Getting into the right mindset is one of the most important things that we can do when trying to accomplish something, the right approach will let us beat those goals one after another, getting into the zone. A very curious metaphysical concept, the zone refers to that feeling of ease and total concentration, like when you’re trying to write something and words just keep on coming, or when you are playing any kind of sport, and you feel like a world class athlete and go on to score over and over again.

  The opposite of this would be “The Ditch”, that horrible place where desperation breeds, where the more you struggle the deeper you’ll trap yourself, it doesn’t need to be in a particular activity. Both concepts can apply to your daily activities there are some days that seem just perfect and others that make you wish that you could just skip it.

  In either case, we need to take a little of our time and take a deep breath, both cases can blindside us to the truth, avoid the problem or the answer. Sometimes we just need to breath and put our lives in perspective. To get out of the tunnel vision.

  The movie screening was a success, almost everyone was talking about Superman after we finished the movie, and many students started chin-waging about their favourite parts, what would they do with those abilities (I can only say that it is a relief that they can’t get similar abilities.) and what spells could help us recreate Superman’s feats.

  Another topic of discussion was how could muggles film this kind of movie if they don’t have magic or similar abilities. It took me and other muggle burn wizards sometime explaining what visual effects where and how muggles used them to materialize their fantasies. These pure blood wizards were left flabbergasted, they couldn’t understand how the muggle mind worked. Poor professor Charity Burbage had to leg it when his students started asking her about Superman, and why they didn’t know nothing about him. They were one hundred percent sure that Superman was real, and that muggles just hide him just like them didn’t let muggle know about the magic world.

  Now that I think about it, Wizards don’t have many works of fiction, their best seller books were adventure journals. The most fictitious work they have are ‘The Tales of Beedle the Bard’, and the most likely explanation is that those were true stories, but they are so old that most people think of them as fiction, and that’s why they are treated as children’s fairy tales.

  So, it wasn’t so shocking that some wizards made their life goals to uncover the muggle conspiracy and unveil Superman’s existence to the world. While other little wizards just wanted to be like Superman. Just like the Weasley twins.

  “You two, get down here this instant!”

  Speaking of them, they were floating around casting the levitation charm to the other.

  Professor McGonagall was going to have a heart attack at this rate, they have some pretty creative thinking, Professor Dumbledore just laughed and then took his leave when Professor McGonagall glared at him for encouraging their behaviour with his laughter.

  The other Professor just found some excuses to get out of our makeshift cinema and left Professor McGonagall to deal alone with the two troublemakers. Mr. Filch was ecstatic, he enjoyed this more than the movie, I don’t know if he already carried a broom, or if he sprinted to his office but he was trying to bring them down with the stick, the two redheads just laughed but after a little while they descended and accepted their punishment. Each of them was deducted a total of ten points, and cheerfully accepted the detention slip that Professor McGonagall wrote for them.

  That’s courage, playing with her and accepting the punishment. They were ‘True’ Gryffindors, I just saw Hermione in the brink of tears, she worked all the week trying to add points to her house, but it seemed like no one really cared about the house cup.

  At least we at Hufflepuff don’t really care, blimey! if we get it, but we won’t get knackered to get it, faffing around trying to add points isn’t in our house values.

  After everyone had left our shabby cinema, we started to clean the place. We asked the school for help in screening the movie to have a little fun at the weekends, not to add more work to the cleaning staff, even if it isn’t really that much.

  So, my roommates, the girls and our two little Gryffindor spies started to clean the place leaving it in good condition. After that we just went to our base, put on some music and discussed our thoughts about the movie.

  Wayne was ecstatic, Justin had seen the movie with his father, so he wasn’t that excited, but he was happy to contribute to the conversation. As for Ernie, he was still processing what he had just seen, he liked it, but he didn’t clearly knew why though. The girls were more interested in Lois love story, and Superman’s affection for her. I think this was one of the few occasion in which Hermione could fit perfectly into the conversation. As for me and Neville, I was just happy to have seen a movie, when a movie is truly good it shouldn’t matter how many times you have seen it. And Neville, he liked Clark more than Superman.

  Sunday was a great day, many of our classmates where still talking about yesterday’s screening, and some asked me to screen it once again. Luckily I gave the tape to Prof. Sprout yesterday, so I told them to ask her. She had thought that some wizards would like seeing the movie once again so she and the other professors put some rules, if you wanted to see a movie, you need to have a group of at least ten people to program a screening, that you will clean the projection room after you see the movie and that you won’t prohibit other students from seeing the movie with your group. The professors saw the movie screenings as a bonding activity between houses, and holding private screenings for every little group of students would defeat that purpose.

  My friends and I were happy with one screening though, so today we went outside of the castle, luckily for us Justin had a football, and we could play a little today. In our way out of the castle we met a two First year Gryffindors, Dean and Seamus, and joined us.

  We built two goalposts, after that we all worked together to mark the football pitch, we didn’t have paint or knew magic to produce paint so with a little transfiguration we did our best to change the colour of the grass. I wouldn’t last that long, so we made two teams, two Hufflepuffs, a Gryffindor and a Girl per team. Hermione decided to be the ref, she knew a little about football cause’ her father was a devout fanatic of the sport, so she more or less knew the rules.

  My team members were Seamus, Hannah and Wayne. Justin was elected captain of the other team, it was a fair division. With Hermione’s whistle the match began. I put Seamus as a goalie, and sprinted to take the ball, but Justin was a great rival, we went back and forth we the ball and couldn’t score. Until from nowhere Wayne took the ball and ran with it. No one could have imagined that the always timid Wayne was such a beast in the pitch, he ran and scored our first goal, dean didn’t even reacted until Hermione yelled the score. Wayne celebrated his goal running around, almost taking his shirt off. But luckily when he noticed that no one was celebrating with him he calmed down and returned to his shy persona. But this time no one took that seriously, we saw how he acted when controlling the ball.

  Justin made an emergency change and sent Ernie to the goalpost, with dean in the offensive the match got really heated, Susan hovered around the goalpost, her defence was almost impenetrable. She and Ernie made a great team, meanwhile the poor Hannah, just ran around. The poor little witch was super red and panted with every step she took.

  When Justin assisted Dean in their first goal, I seriously considered taking Seamus from the goalpost, but he excelled as a goalie, and he had stopped many attempts from Dean and Justin. So, I needed him as a goalie. As a last ditch effort, I told Hannah to sneakily approach our opponents post and with Wayne’s help we made her score the winning goal.

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  That was one of the best games I had in a long time, after giving us the victory, Hannah passed out. So, we took her to the infirmary, but halfway through she woke up and dragged us to the great hall. I didn’t know how good of an actress she was. They learn so fast, I couldn’t do my signature fall and roll before she beat me to it.

  We could have continued playing after that, but it was a hassle to set the pitch once again.

  In the afternoon we didn’t do anything special, everyone went to do their own thing, and I took Biggie and Camille to stroll around the castle and the black lake. The weather was just right, and we rode around for hours, biggie was beaming with joy, he adjusted our speed and happily told me where to go.

  Mr. Filch tried to take Camille away, but there weren’t any rules pertaining to first years and bikes, so he begrudgingly let us go. But he never took his eyes off us. Waiting for any blunder we may make giving him enough reasons to confiscate Camille.

  But the day just went on, when the sun started to settle in the horizon, I returned to the castle, took Camille and Biggie to the Hufflepuff basement and went to the great hall to fill my empty tummy.

  All I can say is that today was a good day.

  Monday was the Beginning of my second week at Hogwarts, and today also marked the start of my daily tutoring with the professors.

  Tonight, I had to spend an hour after dinner with professor McGonagall, tomorrow was going to be with Prof. Flitwick, Wednesday with Prof. Sprout, Thursday with Prof. Quirrell and Friday with Prof. Snape, it was a jampacked week. But I would have enough time, I just had to sleep a little later to finish with my daily assignments.

  Hogwarts breakfast always would put me in a good mood. There was no better way to start my day. I ate till I was chuffed, and rested cause’ I woke up too early.

  The only one that accompanied me to breakfast was Cedric, I hadn’t really talked with him that much since last week, he was always on the run.

  “Are you having problems to sleep Cedric?”

  “Ah, no, why do you think so?”

  “Well, you look super tired, the bags under your eyes look like a Niffler’s pouch.”

  “Do I look that bad”

  “Well, not that bad, but anyone can see that you’re super tired, the only time we talked was last week, and you were running around ever since.”

  “Well, this year I took all the elective courses, and I’m still getting accustomed to this rhythm.”

  “That must be rough, but you aren’t the first one to take all the elective courses, I assume?”

  “Yeah, some prefects have done the same”

  “So, why don’t you ask them some tips. They must have passed through the same.”

  “You’re right mate, I hadn’t thought about it.”

  “There’s no shame in seeking help. My mother always told me that when in doubt I should seek the advice of those more experienced than me.”

  “Your mother sounds like a great person.”

  “Yeah, you bet. She was the best mom in the whole world. Sometimes I can’t help missing her…”

  “Sorry mate.”

  Here I was once again killing the mood, at least Cedric can seek advice from his seniors now.

  “Got to get going mate, or I’ll be late.”

  Once again he flew from the common lounge, the poor bloke didn’t just take all the elective courses, he also had Quidditch practice. Luckily for him, the house didn’t put that much pressure into our team, Justin told me that the captain of Gryffindor’s team started training on the first of September, he dragged all his teammates from their dorms and did and impromptu meeting to coordinate the training.

  Fortunately, I don’t want to join the Quidditch team, so I should have to worry about those things. The only ones having it worse than Cedric are the Gryffindor’s Quidditch Team. They look like tanned zombies. They practically don’t have time rest. They were the only team that didn’t go to the movie screening.

  They’re certainly going to burn themselves.

  My first course for the day was a Potions class with Prof. Snape. Once again I survived, but his presence seriously disturbs my flow.

  If it weren’t for my roommates, my cauldron would’ve exploded more than once. But today we took it better than the previous week, we were prepared, and his tactics didn’t work as well as last time.

  After that I had a Defence Against the Dark Arts course, and happily spent one period reading, you don’t appreciate somethings unless you have something to compare it with. Your car isn’t the best if it isn’t better than your neighbour’s, and so it is with almost everything, making comparisons is almost a human instinct.

  The cozy lessons of Prof. Quirrell are marvelous after a Chilling morning in the dungeons. What’s wrong with reading the book in class, who need personal tutoring, not me.

  After Lunch I took a Charms class with Prof. Flitwick, today we moved on from the Wand-Lightning Charm to the Softening Charm. Spongify, a simple spell, but it can make wonders if applied correctly, at least my new boots won’t hurt my feet with this charm.

  After class, I decided to ask Prof. Flitwick about Camille and Biggie’s situation.

  “Umm… excuse Prof. Flitwick, can I ask you about something?”

  “Oh, don’t worry James, go ahead and ask me anything, as long as it is about charms, I can give you an answer.”

  “Well, you see professor, I have a pet, his name is Biggie Idol, he is a Niffler and…”

  “What an interesting pet you have James, but remember to take care of him, Nifflers are known for their liking of shiny and precious things, and don’t mind just taking them, so you have to make sure he doesn’t bother the other little wizards in your dorm.”

  “Ah, yeah don’t worry professor, he doesn’t steal, he is always busy taking care of Camille, my Bike. He likes riding around in her, but he can’t really control her because of his size, so he can only ride with me on the weekends.”

  “Oh ho-ho-ho, a very unique Niffler.”

  “Yeah, I don’t want him to spend all day closed in the room, so I was thinking that maybe you have a way to charm Camille and let him ride around when I’m not around.”

  “Don’t worry James, maybe you can bring Camille to our session on tomorrow, and I will help you with that, just remember that it is temporary, for a more permanent solutions you will need a little alchemy. So I hope that you put yourself into it. I can’t charm your Camille forever, can I?”

  “Thanks’ professor, see you tomorrow.”

  With that out of my mind, I happily went to my dormitory to finish my assignments, because tonight I had a tutoring session with professor McGonagall.

  I finished my homework and went to the Great Hall to have dinner. I ate with relish and chin wagged a little with my friends, after yesterday’s game we were a little closer, today two more Gryffindor’s swore allegiance to House Hufflepuff, and were warmly welcomed to the long table. Well, they didn’t swore anything, but they had dinner with us, and that’s a great step.

  After everyone was chuffed, we bade farewells and went our own ways, I had to battle my ancient enemy, my eternal rival, the Grand Staircase. To put it shortly, today we reached yet another tie, she couldn’t break my spirit, but my body implored for the deaths relief.

  Jokes aside, one of the few things I didn’t like about Hogwarts was the lack of an elevator. Its only saving grace was the fact that I could take a shortcut from any floor to the ground floor, that made it tolerable.

  Professor McGonagall tutoring session was incredible, her explanations were clear and concise, and with her explanation, everything just clicked. To make an example, if my needle from last week’s class was an eight, then today I could do a twelve.

  “Remember James, Transfiguration is a very profound discipline, it embodies magic more than charms, because it doesn’t a defined path, every wizard will give it their own understanding. So in the correct hands it can solve almost any problem.”

  “I know ma’am”

  …

  “Before you go to sleep, tell me James, what is Transfiguration.”

  “It is our will ma’am, transfiguration is an art that let us shape the world to our will through magic, that’s why there isn’t a consensus in the spells used in it. Everyone will find what perfectly fits them, unlike Charms, that need a clear incantation and a specific wand gesture, Transfiguration just needs a clear enough will. The wand waving and spells are just training wheels that help us have a clear idea of what we want to do.”

  “That’s good James, something else?”

  “Oh, right I forgot. Although Charms can do something similar, they are more volatile, making it very difficult to abandon the incantations and wand gestures, because charms are more metaphysical, while Transfiguration has a more physical approach. We can make fire with transfiguration, but it has to obey the norms that fire should follow, it can’t just exist without a combustible. But charms don’t take this in consideration hence experimenting with charms is very risky.”

  “I’m glad that you can think this way James”

  “Am I right ma’am?”

  “Well, yes and no.”

  “Why?”

  “Because every wizard has to have their own understanding of magic, otherwise they are just muggles with magic, that’s why we as teacher just serve as guides in you magic journey, so my understanding will be different from yours, but that doesn’t mean that you are wrong, or that you are right, it just means that you’re making your own path.”

  “I think I understand Prof. McGonagall”

  “I’m glad to hear that James, now you should go to your dorm, and rest tomorrow you’ll have another wonderful day here at Hogwarts.”

  “Good night ma’am”

  “Good night James”