Damaged Raven

16

"And that's all for third years" Dumbledore said as he hosted another meeting between himself and the teachers to discuss the daily progress of students, Lockhart wasn't here for some reason, Dumbledore supposed he'd have to talk to him about missing meetings the next time he saw him "and now on to second years. Does anyone want to go first?"

"Well apart from a few minor arguments, my house is perfectly fine" Sprout smiled "as for my lessons, I think Neville Longbottom is probably my best student. The boy's a natural when it comes to the subject, he seems to have a real love for plants"

"That is wonderful" Dumbledore smiled

"Yes" Flitwick nodded "it's a shame the boy isn't as confident in his other lessons"

"Indeed" Minerva nodded "his transfiguration work is barely passing, though his lack of confidence is understandable when he has Augusta Longbottom breathing down his neck. As for me, my Gryffindor's seem fine as far as I can see. My favourite is Hermione Granger, such a studious girl, always asking questions and is never misbehaving. As for my class...despite her hard work...Mr Potter is the best"

"Is he?" Dumbledore asked

"Yes Dumbledore, his work is always perfect and he is now doing everything non-verbally"

"Non-verbally?" Dumbledore raised an eyebrow

"I thought you knew" McGonagall frowned

"I had heard rumours of it, but I wasn't sure if it was true." Dumbledore admitted, and it was true because he was rather busy this year between his duties as Chief Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, headmaster and trying to discreetly find someone to take in Harry Potter so he would be free from Bellatrix's influence. Though just as he said it, he did recall Harry's use of wandless and non-verbal magic when attacking the Slytherin's, though he didn't think it was best to bring that up.

"Oh it's definitely true" Flitwick grinned "he's been doing it all year, I had asked him where he learnt it and he said he read it in a book"

"A book?" Slughorn asked

"Yes, in his own words, he said 'I learnt that people can silent cast and I had found a book on how to do it, and there is no way in hell that I am going to be wasting time learning Latin just to learn how to not use it when I'm older and you lot finally get around to teaching silent casting'".

"He makes a good point" Dumbledore frowned "but usually most people struggle with it at such a young age, that's why we wait until they are older."

"That's fair Albus, but young Harry is far from a regular student" Slughorn replied "the boy is currently working at a fourth year level in my class"

"Fourth year?" Sprout repeated with shock

"Yes" Slughorn nodded proudly "in fact, the boy is a natural and has already made some improvements to existing potions"

"Improvements?" McGonagall asked

"Oh yes, the boy studied the ingredients and how they were made along with their purpose, he then made a few minor changes. For example, a potion designed to heal burnt skin would take about two hours to make usually, but young Mr Potter managed to get it down to an hour and twenty minutes and his potion was still the best. I've actually documented his changes on various potions and sent it to the British Potions Committee, I expect them to release an article about it tomorrow."

"No offence to Mr Potter but why hasn't these improvements been discovered by someone much more experienced and older?" Sprout asked

"Well my dear, we magical folk often get lazy" Slughorn shrugged "when we have something that we think works fine then we leave it at that. I can't remember the last time we had a new invention appear, new inventions pop up all the time in the muggle word, most of us are just fine with the status quo. Anyway, back to Mr Potter, I think if the boy is agreeable then we can have him do his owl exams early"