As I lied about needing to do some work, I had some spare time. After a few short moments, I remembered that I hadn’t used magic for over a week. But this time I wanted to be better prepared, so I went to the kitchen to ask for some snacks.

Most of the Stuff recognized me, so it wasn’t really a problem. Especially because Majestro, the chef, was there. He was one of three wizards in the kitchen. He did most of the cooking with a few flicks of his wand, but apparently seasoning the dishes was incredibly difficult with magic. One small hic up and the whole meal would be too salty, too spicy, too bitter, or anything else that spices did. So the Nowitzs just needed to stand in front of the different cooking panels and add the spices at the right time while cut vegetables and meat were flying through the room. The Nowitzs feared me even more than the other students did, which was a little sad as I never did something to them, but at least they came up with more creative names. Daughter of the Morningstar had a nice ring to it. Dawn-bringer also sounded nice. But I assumed these names had some meaning I didn’t understand. Maybe dawn-bringer meant I would bring the apocalypse or something, but I honestly didn’t care. They didn’t know any better. Unlike some students.

With a handful of fresh snacks in hand, I retreated to the solace of my room. It was my haven, the only place where I could wrestle with the fragile state I found myself in after each attempt to harness magic. I'd rather keep my struggles hidden; the last thing I wanted was for them to witness my vulnerability.

This time, I promised myself I wouldn't push too hard. Transfiguration always drained me beyond measure, so I opted for something simpler.

I quickly took out my wand from my nightstand and thought about what spell to practice. Usually, I practiced with the levitation spell as it was easy to control how much magic power I wanted to spend, and there were also quite a few exercises to increase my control over magic. The most common exercise was using the levitation charm to control a pen to write. Most considered it quite a boring exercise and quickly moved to the more advanced methods, but those required more magic power. Power which I lacked.

Still, there were other spells I could use for training, even if they were less popular. One of which was a spell to control fire. I always imagined myself controlling fires so large they could burn down Toadwitz, but the reality was quite far from that.

Placing one of my ever-burning candles on the desk, I aimed my wand at the flickering flame. Casting the spell, I watched as the flame responded, seemingly drawn to my wand. With focused intent, I nudged the flame in the opposite direction. The magic required was so minimal that I didn't need to resort to drawing blood unless I sought to make the flame bigger.

After around a minute, I felt my hand shaking. It was a sign that I needed to eat something. I grabbed a piece of beef jerky and thought about how awesome it would be if I could use magic as freely as the other students. I would probably become even more of a workaholic than mother, and a greater witch then even Aunt Seraphina. Too bad that it would never become true.

Ten minutes later, revitalized, I resumed casting the spell. This time, I compressed the flame into a perfect sphere, an unnatural and mesmerizing sight.

After around an hour, I decided to do something a little more advanced. I wanted to increase the temperature of the flame. Just a little bit.

I focused on the flickering flame as I cast the spell, but the moment I saw that the flame was turning blue, I had to stop. Maybe it was already too late at that time, as I barely managed to move afterwards. If I wasn’t sitting on my chair, I was sure I would have collapsed.

But I still couldn’t help but smile. I never managed to even get the flame to turn blue before, so my training definitely had been worth it. All those hours of training were slowly showing signs of paying off. Maybe, perhaps, in the far future, I could be able to at least use the most simple magic because I could use my magic to the outmost efficiency. Nothing too great; just a little bit would be enough. The others would probably see me in a completely different light then. And even if not, magic was just awesome. Any bit of progress felt better than even winning a bet with Severin, or… well, I wasn’t sure if it was better than getting cuddled by Will. But magic would always be my own, and it felt so good to get better at it.

After I recovered from my training session, I considered visiting my brother, but looking at the time, I knew that he was having a lesson with Aunt Seraphina. He would probably drown in homework afterwards, and from my own experience, I knew that unless you were an absolute genius, you would never leave Aunt’s classes happy. She had that way to make you feel dump without even meaning to, which only made it worse.

Maybe I could talk with Helena. She had called me a friend too, and maybe I would get to know if she really LIKED my brother or if she just liked him. I mean, she had never spent much time with him before because she never got her nose out of some books. I don’t know if she was as smart as her mother, but she was certainly trying to get there.

So, with nothing else to do, I decided that I could visit the library. I hadn’t been there since the beginning of the year, but now would be a good time. I needed to stay ahead in my potion studies if I wanted to teach the subject after all. The problem was that I had read almost all books about potions. The only books I hadn’t read were the unpopular ones that were about oddly specific topics that, in the grand scheme of things, didn’t matter. I mean, who would want to read about the effect that a full moon had on the brewing process of a cure for boils? I mean, the effect was so little that I wasn’t even sure the author's experiments were enough to prove that it had an influence, even though his reasoning was logical. Other topics, like how the storage time affected a few ingredients, were more valuable but increadibly dry to read. I still did. Now the only things that remained were things like how a cauldron was changed during a brewing process and what potions would have what effect on future brewing attempts.

All of these things could be useful in certain situations, but Uncle already told me that I was on a level where I needed to invent my own potions to get better. Sure, once in a while we would get new books or someone would revolutionize an old recipe, but those things happened twice or three times every year, so I would mostly stagnate the rest of the time.

The common misconception about potions was that it was quite limited compared to magic, but that was not true. The only limitation was your imagination. Almost everything that magic could do, potions could do too, and maybe even more. I mean, uncles' attempts to create liquid luck were one such example. There was no spell that could affect someone's luck. I mean, there were one or two rituals, but not something that was readily available to the common wizard.

Still, I wanted to read all books about potions before I started to traverse the unknown without uncles' help. So boring books here I come.

Like I thought, the library was almost empty, as everyone was still having lessons. Only three different grades had spare time as the founders were all teaching all houses at the same time. And most of the people in these grades were too lazy to go to the library. Stupid idiots. If I were able to use magic, I would stay in the library the whole night. I mean, technically, I could, but it was so meager that it would just be torturing myself if I were to read up on all the cool stuff.

As usual, no one was in the potion section. They don’t appreciate the art at all. I took the book about the cauldrons and began to read.

Who in their right mind was bored enough to test all this? I mean, if one brewed 1048 healing potions in a copper cauldron, the next sleeping connoction brewed in the potion would be only half as efficient. There was even a graph to show how the effectiveness gradually lessened until it stopped dropping after 1048 potions. I mean was there really a need to go to 2000 potions after the first 100 after this had stopped to show any sign of change?

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

“Can I sit here?” What? Who is talking to me? Oh, it's Morgana.

“Sure.” I mean, there were many different free tables, but if she wanted to sit near her dear teacher, I wouldn’t stop her.

“What are you reading?” Girl, don’t you know the basic rules of a library? No talking.

“A thousand ways to ruin your cauldron.” The title was a lie. There were at least three thousand ways described in the book.

“Is it a good book? Should we read it for your lesson?” Only if they annoy me.

“No, it’s just some side reading of mine. I wouldn’t recommend reading it if you have anything else left in the library.” She looked at me, surprised.

“Have you read the whole library?” Ups. Yeah, I get that it might have sounded like that.

“Just the potion part. And the herbology part. And the magical beast part. And then, no wait, that was it. I didn’t finish the other sections.” I mean, I dumbled a little in everything, but I didn’t want her to think I could answer her questions about everything. I also didn’t want to mention that I might have read one or two less decent books. I mean, I’m a girl; I was curious, okay? Now that I think about it, they should definitely build a forbidden section in the library. I wouldn’t want little Percival to read these books. I wouldn’t want him to become a pervert. Not that the stories focused on it but some things were described quite explicit to say the least.

“That is incredible. Why did you choose those topics?” It wasn’t incredible. I was just bored. I didn’t always take seven hour baths. I just started taking them because the nights were so long and so boring.

“Herbology and Potions are quite closely related. Magical beast as well, even if not so strong. I mean, if you want to brew a potion that has never existed before and just have an idea of what it should do, where would you start to look for ingredients? So if you want to become a potion master that is able to create its own potions, it’s necessary to know a few things, but if you just treat potions as a hobby, it is unnecessary.” What I left out was that I would teach them to become awesome portioners and not just mediocre ones, so even if I hadn’t brewed my own potion yet and thus wasn’t a master yet, I was as close as one could get, and they would suff… profit because of that.

“That is amazing, I never thought about it that way. I want to focus on enchanting, and potions but I never considered that the other subjects are really a prerequisite to getting there.”

“Most potion books already tell you the basics about the ingredients, so it’s not really a strict requirement, but it certainly helps.” I didn’t want to lie to her. What I did was far beyond what was required. The main reason I wasn’t a master yet was that I always worked with uncle together. You would only be recognized as a master if you created the potion without the help of a master, so everything I did was attributed to uncle. I naturally didn’t mind. In most cases, he was also the one who did most of the work, so he also deserved it, but I would dare to say that there were potion masters that were worse than me.

“Still, that you read all those books would certainly make it easier for you.” Yeah, it will, but was she trying to get on my good side for some reason?

“So, what can I help you with? You surely want something, or you wouldn’t have come to sit with me.” I just hope she will answer honestly. I didn’t have the nerves to deal with someone like those noble brats who tried to hide their intentions all the time while also being blatantly obvious about them.

“Oh, I don’t want anything. I just wanted to get to know my teacher. I mean, if you can recommend me a book to read for your lessons, then that would be great, but it was only by chance that I saw you here.” Well, at least that I could believe. I mean, even I didn’t know that I would go to the library this morning, so she couldn’t have waited for me here.

“Ohh, fine. Just ask away if you want to know anything. I have seen your grades, and I know you have the basics down, but I honestly can’t recommend anything to you without having seen you work. And my lessons don’t follow a strict plan where we follow a preset number of potions. At least that’s not the plan at the moment. I would only do that if I deem you too untalented or unprepared for what I want to teach you.” That seemed to shock her, and I could even see her clenching her fists. Was she afraid to fail?

“Can I do anything to prepare?” Does she have some kind of trauma? She is sweating quite a lot.

“Don’t worry. I will just test if you understand what you have learned until now. It won’t be too difficult.” She paled even more. Did I do something wrong? Help! What do I do in such a situation? I don’t want her to be scared of my lessons. Maybe I should change the topic. Yes, that sounds good.

“So, uhm, do you have someone to go out with?” What am I talking about? That was not professional. I wanted to stay out of it. Stupid brain. Think of something different.

"Ah, sorry, I mean, ahm, what is your favorite color?” What am I doing here. I will lose all respect even before the first lesson that way. I need to ask something decent.

“I mean, ahm, enchanting is your other favorite topic. Why is that?” Okay, that’s better. Why couldn’t I ask that in the beginning? She will think I’m a weirdo now. Now she even looks at me like I’m a weirdo. Okay, at least she doesn’t look scared anymore.

“Has it anything to do with the lessons? I mean, if you really need to know, no, I don’t have someone I go out with. My favorite color is green, and I love enchanting because it can do something permanent. It isn’t as fickle as other types of magic.” She really answered all my stupid questions. I’m sorry, Morgana. I didn’t want to embarrass you. I try to be a good teacher, I swear.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn't have asked that; I just…” Yeah, why did I ask that?

“Don’t worry?” was she trying to calm me down now. Oh, how the tables turn. Have I really just lost the respect of one of my students even before the first lesson?

“Okey, I think it's time for lunch now anyway.” I need to escape. If I say anything more than this, I’m sure it will only get worse.

“Yes, I’m hungry too. We should go now.” Did she just say we? Leave me some decency and let me go alone.

“I just need to put the book away. You can go ahead.”

“I will wait, don’t worry.” Girl, I’m getting angry now. You do it on purpose, don’t you?

"Okey, listen, Morgana, you are a nice girl, and you don’t need to take it personally, but I will eat with my boyfriend, so you don’t need to wait.”

“Ohh, Sorry. I didn’t want to intrude. I just thought we could go together. Who is your boyfriend? I never heard about you having one.” Don’t apologize for intruding if you continue to do it. But I guess I started it, and she did answer me too. And why would she have heard about me having a boyfriend. I mean, I suspect that the last two years in Toadwits were just for people to find someone to marry, so it's quite common news for people to get together or break up. So me having a boyfriend wouldn't really be "news."

“His name is William Whimsby. He is in sixth grade in Lionheart.”

“The one with the red hair and the frickles? The one that is always together with this idiot, Brian.” Okay, she didn’t like Red. I shouldn’t meddle. Not anymore than I already did.

"Yes, that one.” Maybe I declared that a bit more proudly than I wanted to.

“Good for you. He seemed like a nice guy. At least he never bothered me like his friend.”

“What did his friends do? Should I talk with them?” Okay, that would be meddling, but if someone bothered my student, I had to step in, right?

“No, No. You don’t need to. I just wanted to vent a little. It's not so terrible. He just asked me out at the most inopportune moments. I mean, he managed to ask me two times when I was on my way to the toilet. What did he expect me to answer? "Yes, good bye. I gotta pee." And then that one time he asked me after Professor Humblehill just told me that I had no aptitude for divination and that I should choose something else. Or that one time when he asked me right after he did some sports and was still sweating all over.” Okey, I’m not sure if she likes or dislikes him now. Was it just the timing that was always bad, or did she not like him?

“Okey? So do you want him to ask you at the right moment, or do you don’t want him to ask you?” My curiosity got the better of me, I guess.

“I don’t know.” Wow. That girl was complicated. “I need to have good grades, or my mom will marry me off to some noble from my hometown, so I don’t know if I have time for something like that.”

Okay, that was at least more understandable.

“So theoretically, you want him to ask?” Thanks, mother, for not putting me through that shit.

“Well, I don’t know. I mean, he wasn’t the only one who asked me out. I mean, Augustus asks me repeatedly, but I definitely don’t want to go out with him. But there are others too.” Wow, she was really popular. She could basically choose. I only had William, but I guess that is fine. Not everyone can be as popular as her.

“Is Augustus really that bad?” I mean, he was also my student, and it wouldn’t hurt to know.

“It depends on who you ask. I mean, some more open girls were more than satisfied if that is what you want, but some others were left in tears after he left them after a week.” Ohhhkey, that might have been more than I wanted to know.

“Anyway, we are there. I need to pack some lunch for Will. See you in two days. Don’t be late.”