Professor McGonagall had a gift for teaching.
She could make even the most complicated concepts sink in effortlessly, like they were sliding right into place. Even the slowest student would pick things up without realizing it was happening.
Whether they actually understood and could apply what they'd learned was another story, of course.
Luckily, Kane had a pretty decent brain on him.
From the moment Professor McGonagall started the lesson, he'd been soaking up every word and working through the concepts. His sanity had even stabilized a bit.
By the time class ended and the other students had cleared out, Kane was still sitting in the classroom.
Harry and Ron recognized the routine immediately and ambled out to wait for him in the hallway. They weren't worried about missing dinner.
Worst case scenario, they could just scrounge up some random stuff around Hogwarts and get Kane to use his cauldron to cook up some meatballs.
Hermione watched Kane linger in the classroom, clearly planning to get some extra help from Professor McGonagall.
Someone smarter than you, from a better family than you, working even harder than you. Of course she couldn't let herself slack off for a second.
But... would Professor McGonagall even be willing to tutor a Muggle-born witch like her?
Hermione, uncharacteristically uncertain about this, decided to leave the classroom first and wait outside for Professor McGonagall.
After all, Professor McGonagall was Head of Gryffindor House, and she was a Gryffindor student. That had to count for something, right?
Professor McGonagall noticed Kane sitting alone in the classroom, looking at her with barely contained eagerness while apparently trying to figure out what to say. She decided to help him out.
"Is there something you don't understand that you'd like to ask me?"
"Yes, Professor, yes!" Kane immediately pulled out the detailed Summoning Charm guide that Professor Flitwick had recommended.
"Professor McGonagall, I want to learn the Summoning Charm, but my foundation isn't very strong."
Professor McGonagall sat down beside Kane and glanced through the book. "Mm, I can tell this is a Restricted Section pass from Filius. It's a relatively safe spell. While it can summon some dangerous creatures, given your magic power as a young wizard, it's still within manageable limits."
"I assume what you're struggling with are the many prerequisite concepts in this book that aren't explained, correct?"
Kane nodded eagerly.
"Two options. First, I can stay here after hours and explain all the background knowledge you're missing. Then you'll be able to understand this book.
Second, I'll give you a reading list. You work through all those books, and once you've mastered the material, learning this Summoning Charm will be much easier."
As Professor McGonagall laid out these options, she found herself curious about why Kane wanted to learn this spell.
If it was just to show off as quickly as possible, like he'd done in the entrance hall, she'd explain everything to him right now.
It wouldn't lead to much real magical growth, but it would certainly impress plenty of young wizards. And wanting to show off a little at that age was perfectly normal.
But if he genuinely wanted to improve himself, then this tutoring session required a different approach.
Speed didn't matter. She needed to give him a solid foundation. She absolutely had to avoid just cramming information into his head.
It would be better to give him the reading list, let him work through the concepts on his own, and then provide guidance once he'd done the groundwork.
Now it just depended on what Mr. Heath chose.
To her satisfaction, Mr. Heath clearly wasn't interested in bragging to his friends. He actually wanted to improve himself.
"I'll take the reading list, Professor."
Professor McGonagall smiled, took a piece of parchment from the desk, and wrote down three book titles.
"These books are all foundational. You can read them in whatever order you like. If there's anything you don't understand..."
Before Professor McGonagall could finish, a silvery white phoenix suddenly flew in through the window.
"Minerva, could you come to my office, please? This is quite urgent."
"Mr. Heath, as you heard, I must go. In any case, if there's anything you don't understand, come find me. If I have time, I'll answer your questions."
With that, Professor McGonagall hurried out of the classroom. Hermione, who had been waiting outside hoping to catch Professor McGonagall, saw her emerge and instinctively waved.
But Professor McGonagall seemed not to notice her at all, heading straight for the staircase.
"Harry, Ron, we should go eat now. Hm? Hermione? What are you doing here?" Kane came out with his reading list, about to call Harry and Ron over, when he spotted Hermione looking absolutely defeated. He asked curiously.
Hermione took a deep breath. Kane was a good person, so she wasn't going to take her frustration out on him. After considerable effort to calm herself down, she asked, "What did you just talk to Professor McGonagall about? Mind sharing?"
"Oh, some questions about Transfiguration. Professor McGonagall recommended three books for me." Kane waved the parchment in his hand.
"Mind if I see?" Hermione asked quickly. Back in the Muggle world, she'd been proper English, old London, Union Jack middle class. Of course she would have looked down on mooching off someone else's educational resources.
But now that she'd entered the magical world, she was basically at the bottom of Hogwarts' social hierarchy, the lowest of the low. If she didn't take advantage of the privileged kids' educational resources now, how would she ever catch up?
Fortunately, Kane, despite being one of the "privileged," was surprisingly generous, directly handing the parchment to Hermione. "Go ahead and copy it."
Hermione was pleasantly surprised by how agreeable Kane was. She quickly pulled paper and pen from her pocket and started copying the book list against the wall.
With nothing else to do, Kane also noticed Harry and Ron in the distance, ready to play wizard chess at any time or place. The two had just about finished their game.
They packed up their pieces, came over, and urged, "We need to get to the Great Hall, or we'll miss dinner again."
"Yeah, let's go." Kane took back the parchment Hermione handed him and started toward the Great Hall.
Seeing this, Hermione felt that such a generous person deserved a small favor in return.
"I'm heading to the library right now. Do you need me to grab the books for you?"
Kane's face lit up. "That would be amazing! Thank you so much. Do you want us to bring you dinner?"
Hermione was about to nod, but after thinking it over, decided against it. "I'm not hungry."
"Thanks so much anyway, Hermione!" Kane said, then ran toward the Great Hall with Harry and Ron.
Hermione headed straight for the library. As for whether she was actually hungry or not, of course she was hungry.
But why didn't she let Kane bring her food? Honestly, she wasn't sure herself.
Maybe it was because that would make it seem like she was repaying Kane, this "privileged kid," for the favor of sharing the reading list with her.
Going to the library to fetch books for Kane even while hungry gave off the vibe of being some kind of lackey... She didn't like that.
"I never used to care about this kind of thing," Hermione suddenly muttered to herself as she walked toward the library.
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~ Push the story forward with your Power Stones