7 Shock & Talk

Professor McGonagall showed everyone how to do the transforming. During this point, Harry closed his eyes and tried to feel how the mana particles behaved. He noticed them dancing around Professor McGonagall's wand and flowing towards the matchstick. The mana particles slowly changed the shape of the matchstick into a needle.

"The mana particle behaved in a slightly more complex manner than when I used the Levitation Spell last night," thought Harry, cupping his chin. "And I didn't need to cast the spell chant; I simply willed the spell to take effect. Aside from the complexity of the mana particles behaviour, it seems like the intention behind the spell is also important. It makes sense since it was mentioned by Voldemort when the other Harry used the Cruciatus Curse against Bellatrix. But when a spell is created, is it the complex structure of the mana particles that is bound with the spell chant, the intention or both? And why do we need even a wand to channel the magic?"

"Something on your mind, Mr Potter?" asked Professor McGonagall.

Harry looked up to see Professor McGonagall standing in beside him. "Professor, why is it necessary that we need to use a wand and a chant to cast a spell? Surely it's easier to cause the intended effect without the need for a wand and a complicated chant."

"You're referring to chantless and wandless magic," said Professor McGonagall. "That is a more advanced form of magic that will be taught to students in their sixth and seventh year."

"But that is after conditioning the mind for the need for chants and wands for five long years," argued Harry. "Does that not make it extremely difficult for wizards to change from using wands and chants to discarding them? And you still have not answered my first question."

"The wand and the chant is used as a medium to help new wizards like yourself to have better control their magic," said Professor McGonagall. "The more powerful wizards will be able to use wandless and chantless magic as they grow older. Don't forget that using uncontrolled magic can be very dangerous both for the wizard and for those around them."

"You're really not making a strong argument, Professor McGonagall," said Harry. Even in his past life, he didn't understand the need for wands as wizards have been around for far longer than mediums like wands. Also, in some other parts of the world like Africa and Asia, they use mediums other than wands, right? "I see that using wands and chants as a way to limit a wizards potential. And isn't Professor Dumbledore the most powerful wizard alive? Can he use wandless and chantless magic as efficiently as when using a wand?"

Professor McGonagall was at a loss for words as she fell into contemplation. Harry might appear as anti-wand and anti-chant, but she felt his words had some truth in them. Had wizards truly grown such dependency over wands and chants? Before students began their time at Hogwarts, there had been many young wizards that had accidentally used magic unknowingly without the need for wands and chants. Suddenly, she felt a chill run down her spine and shuddered as she looked at Harry looking at her innocently.

"I'm not sure about Professor Dumbledore's proficiency level without using chants or his wand," said Professor McGonagall. "As for our conversation regarding using chantless and wandless magic, let's leave that for another time. It will be a lengthy conversation we still have our class to get through."

Harry took out his wand and began transforming the matchstick. Although he had used his wand to cast a spell in the train, he could not see then the interaction of the mana particles with the wand. He wanted to observe the phenomenon and see how it differed from when he was using magic without a wand.

Harry closed his eyes again and started channelling his mana into his wand. He felt a suction force when the mana flowed into the wand. As his mana flowed through the wand, he felt it being empowered as if being fed a powerful tonic, however, he also felt the speed at which the mana travelled through the wand was slowed down slightly. He opened his eyes as he waved his wand over the matchstick transforming it into a needle. Harry transformed another matchstick into a tread and had it flow through the needle. He then has the tread walk around the table and do a somersault before calmly lying on the table.

Professor McGonagall was surprised at his command over magic and praised him in front of the class awarding Gryffindor fifteen points. Many students looked at him with envy.

Harry ignored the looks his classmates were giving him and shifted his attention to the brown haired girl next to him. It took her a little longer to transform the matchstick into a needle, earning a further ten points.

"Harry, how did you do that with the needle and tread?" asked Hermione, her voice filled with curiosity.

"I can teach you later if you want," replied Harry with a smile.

"And what you were saying about wandless magic, you seem to know a lot about," asked Hermione, unable to hold back anymore.

"Maybe, you interested?" asked Harry in a teasing manner.

"Of course I am," replied Hermione, nodding her head like a woodpecker.

Harry looked at her excited face and shining eyes. He simply smiled at her and took out his Transfiguration book and started reading.

"Why does this girl feel different from how she was portrayed in the books?" thought Harry while reading.

Soon the class was over and the students started trickling out of the classroom. Harry got up from his seat and started making his way out of the classroom. "Wait for it ...!"

"Mr Potter, could you stay behind please?" called out Professor McGonagall.

"And there we have ...!" thought Harry. It wasn't until all the students were gone before Professor McGonagall talked to him.

"So Mr. Potter, care to tell me who taught you for you to achieve such familiarity and precise control over magic?" said Professor McGonagall, her tone laced with seriousness. "And was it the same person who asked you to pose those questions regarding wandless and chantless magic? There's also the matter of your eyes changing."

"Sigh ... Professor ... if I told you the truth, you would find it unbelievable at best," said Harry with a sigh.

"Tell me anyway!"

"Very will! Saying that my childhood with my aunt and uncle have not been easy is putting it politely. So to calm myself, I would occasionally meditate. This soon became a habit. Not a lot happened to me magically, but what I found was that it was easier to calm my mind and gain control over my emotions and I think all that time I spend in meditation must have helped improve my control on my magic.

In regards to my eyes, they only started changing recently and it mostly happened when my emotions run wild. But as you can see now, my eyes return to normal when I'm calm. I honestly don't know how they are changing. But one thing it has done is that my eyesight started drastically improving every time they got activated.

Last night when I went to my dorm room, I started my habitual meditation before going to sleep. I found that I could sense small grains of light particles in the air which I concluded were the magic found in this world of ours. Also, I found a network of light that ran parallel to my blood vessels. After observing both the light network in me and the tiny light particles in the air, I found that I could absorb them. Once I did, they joined the light network in my body and became a part of it, making it stronger.

I also found that I could control these light particles so I decided to test it. I willed the light particles to surround my pillow and raise it. The light particles danced around my pillow and raised it into the air. I realised I had achieved the same effect as the Levitation Spell 'Wingardium Leviosa'. That's where I started questioning the use of spell chants and wands. Are they even necessary if I can the same without them?

This morning I woke up at dawn to confirm another theory of mine. Can we increase our body's magic capacity? Since our bodies contain certain amount of magic, if our bodies became stronger, can it hold more magic? To hold more magic, do we need stronger bodies? I started jogging and got exhausted very quickly. As you can see, I don't have the strongest of physiques. Once I got too tired, I started channel the magic in my body to get rid of my fatigue. It worked, but it used up the magic stored in my magic reserves. So I started absorbing more magic from the air. I repeated this action a few times and what I discovered proved my hunch. My magic reserves became sturdier and slightly bigger than they had been the night before. And after recovering after getting exhausted every time, I found my body is also a little bit stronger. This proved my theory of stronger body holding more magic."

After finishing his long narration, Harry could clearly see the immense shock in Professor McGonagall's face. She was so shocked that she could even forgot to talk for multiple minutes, just staring at Harry.

"Umm ... Professor?" said Harry shyly. "I know I'm quite amazing, but it would be a little inappropriate for you to fall for me."