Exiting the class, as I made my way through the castle, I found myself in a deserted corridor. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a familiar-looking cabinet sandwiched in-between a terracotta statue and a metal suit of armor. It looked just like the vanishing cabinets, that connects my house to my uncle's boat.

In my previous life, I had always been curious about where this cabinet led to. In the books, Peeves broke the cabinet in the second book, and the Weasley twins had forced Montague into it in the fifth book.

As I ran my fingers over the dark wood, I felt an overwhelming urge to see where it led to. One of the greatest things about being reborn was being able to explore the world that I grew so fond of in my previous life. After looking around to make sure no one saw me, I slid the door open and stepped inside.

Having been through a vanishing cabinet before, I recognized the sensation as I was transported to the other cabinet. Very slowly, I cracked the door open, after peering through the opening, I realized where the other cabinet was located.

It was located at Burgin and Burkes! I recognized the store from when I was with my uncle and we had been here while he was making some of his deliveries. A detail from the previous book surfaced within my mind, if I remember correctly, I think that Harry himself, hid inside this cabinet when he was accidentally sent to the store while using the floo-network.

A plan immediately formed within my mind, if I buy the one at Borgin and Burkes, and put it in my tower, I will have my secret passage in and out of Hogwarts.

I turned and was sent back to Hogwarts, once I was back I reentered the corridor with no one the wiser. Although I wanted to hide the cabinet right away, right now, students were milling around the castle, and I wouldn't be able to move it without anyone noticing me. So, I decided to wait for a time when most of the school would be occupied.

I wolfed my dinner down quickly and left the great hall intent on finding the Room of Requirement. After reaching the seventh floor, I looked for the tapestry of Barnabus the Barmy.

I remembered that across from tapestry was the entrance. I found Barnabus in the third corridor I tried, and across from it, was an empty stone wall.

Walking back and forth three times, furiously thinking, I need a safe place where no one can disturb me, to study books on how to become an animagus. A small wooden door appeared, opening the door, led me to a small circular room with a small round table with a short stack of books on top of it.

Next to the table was an uncomfortable-looking hardback chair, wanting to test further the room's magic, I thought, I really could use a more comfortable chair. Right as the thought entered my head, I saw a red plushly looking chair on the other side of the table. I grinned to myself, this is such a broken piece of magic.

Decided that I would continue my experiments later, I sat down and grabbed the first book available. The age of the book could be felt as I ran my fingers across the cracks in the leather spine. Seeing that the book was titled History of the Animagus, I opened it hoping that there would be valuable information inside.

The book started with the origins of the spell; it stated, The source of the animagus spell dates back to ancient Greece. The first recorded animagus was a wizard by the name of Falco Aesalon, who turned into a falcon. While it is possible that he did not invent the spell himself, most have credited Falco with inventing the animagus spell.

Since then, the spell has filtered throughout the world and is used by many wizards worldwide. However, in Europe, there is a persistent belief that wizards who become animagus do so for nefarious reasons. That, combined with the difficulty, and danger, has led the spell not being frequently used in Europe.

Continuing on I read, The most recent discovery in the field of Animagus transformation has to do with another charm called the Patronus charm. Difficult to cast, when cast correctly, it produces a glowing white spirit in the form of an animal. Several wizards who have become animagus, have come forward showing that the form of the Patronus is the same as their animal form. Some wizards often try to discover what form their animagus would take, before attempting to become animagus.

The book went on, The types of animals that wizards may turn into are many, it is even possible for a wizard to assume the shape of a magical creature, although this is a rare occurrence, as it usually only happens to the most powerful of wizards. Should you meet such a wizard, you would be wise not to anger him.

By the time I had finished with the book, I had learned all sorts of interesting facts about the history of the animagus spell. But little about the process of actually becoming an animagus. Looking through the remaining books, I found one called A Guide to become Animagus.

Opening the book, I located the spell towards the beginning of the book, 'The process of becoming an animagus is long and complicated. It begins with the mandrake leaf; one must place the mandrake leaf within the mouth for an entire month.

Should it leave your mouth for even a moment, you will have to start all over again. Once that has been accomplished, you must keep the leaf in your mouth until the night of the next full moon. Should the moon's rays of light be unobstructed, the process has to start all over again from the beginning

The next step is to create a potion using the spit-soaked mandrake leaf, one of their hairs, a silver teaspoon of dew that hasn't seen sunlight for seven days or been touched by human feet for seven days.

Finally, the chrysalis of a Death's-head Hawk Moth must be included as well. After successful brewing the potion, it must not be touched by the rays of the sun, or the whole potion will be ruined.

The next step is to wait for a lighting storm to be overhead. No matter how long it takes, at every sunrise and sunset, you must place the tip of your wand at your heart and chant the spell Amato Animo Animato Animagus.

When a lightning storm is overhead, take the potion to a secure area, point your wand at your heart one final time and recite the incantation and drink the potion, which will have turned blood red in the storm.

You will feel agonizing pain. Then, a second heartbeat will beat within your chest, afterward, an animal will come to your mind, and you will transform.

A word of warning the first transformation will be extremely uncomfortable, but this is normal. Should anything go wrong with the process, the consequences are irreversible. Many a wizard has overestimated their skill and tried to become an animagus only to become stuck halfway in-between forms, neither man or beast but some unholy mixture of the two. Even worse, their minds become deranged, often they end up killing themselves or others in a fit of rage.

The book showed pictures of wizards who had messed up the spell; one wizard was shown to be screaming in agony as half of his body was twisted into something unrecognizable.

After reading and seeing all the pictures about all the ways the spell could go wrong, I finally understood why Professor McGonagall said I would have to wait until I am older and had a better grasp of transfiguration.

There would be no do-overs or second chances if I messed this spell up. I shook my head at just how insane James, Sirius, and Peter were. They pulled off becoming animagus without any guidance at all.

Seeing how I had been in here for over an hour, I decided to head out so that I could make it back to my room well before curfew. By the time I made it back to the Ravenclaw common room, there was over an hour left before curfew.

I saw it was filled with students, some chatting with their friends, and others working on their schoolwork. The rest of the night passed while I worked on my homework in my favorite chair.

The next morning was my first potions class, and I wasn't going to chance being late to Snape's class. In the books, he was depicted as someone who gleefully handed out lengthy detentions.

After breakfast, I made my way to the dungeons to find the potions classroom early. It took a bit because the dungeons were massive and maze-like.

After I found the correct room, I walked in and noticed Cedric waving to me from a small square table with four seats that already had another member of his house. Looking at the brown-haired mousy looking girl next to Cedric, the name Sarah Givens popped into my head.

Grabbing a seat, I motioned for Roger to join us when he came in. When it was time for class to start, Professor Snape silently entered from the back room. His dark long flowing robes made it seems like he was gliding along the floor.

Making his way to the front of the class, he spoke in a silky soft voice, "Potion making is one of the oldest magic arts. It has the most versatile out of any branch of magic. No flashy wand movement can save you in my class, potions is a subtle art, if done correctly, you can bring someone back from the edge of death, turn someone invisible, even bottle luck. Those of you who are less thick-headed than others may find success in my class, while those you who have difficulty following instructions will fail."

He glared resentfully at the class as if he was offended by having to teach students who don't meet his high standards.

Professor Snape warned, "One of the most important aspects in potion-making is your mind, the ability to maintain focus over long periods is critical in potion making, should you lose track of where you are in the process, and it could ruin the potion you have created."

After pausing to give a wordless glare at those who might ruin a potion in the class, He instructed, "Now open your books to chapter one, you will find the recipe, for the pepperup potion, you will be turning one in by the end of class."

There was a moment of hesitation in the class; all of the other courses had long lectures before making any attempt at using magic. Professor Snape's style seemed to be to throw us in the deep end and see if there was any talent worth teaching. For those who failed, well, that was just him separating the wheat from the chafe.

Even though I had already made this potion before, I opened my book and reread the recipe; Two pinches of Bicorn Horn, Root of the Mandrake, Three Sprigs of English Thyme, Five drops of Salamander Blood and Four Fire Seeds.

I headed to the shelves that had the ingredients, to select what I needed — knowing that having the best ingredients along with proper preparation of ingredients, is a massive factor in how a potion will turn out.

The Bicorn Horn was a solid piece of horn that I would need to ground to powder, after verifying nothing was wrong with the horn I grabbed, I put it aside to look at the mandrake root. I knew from both experience and the potion ingredient book my mom gave me on my sixth birthday, that the ideal mandrake root, should have a rubber-like consistency to it.

The first root I grabbed was mushier than rubber, and the second felt brittle like it could snap. Finally, the third one I grabbed had a good rubber feeling to it.

From what I could see, the Sprigs of English Thyme looked normal, so I grabbed three of them. Next, I pulled out my dropper and filled it with Salamander blood, and then I grabbed four fire seeds, not wanting to take any chances on having a bad seed, I switched out one of my seeds due to its funky shape.

After grabbing another one that matched my other seeds, I headed back to my desk. As I turned, I saw that Professor Snape, watching everyone at the ingredient stand like a hawk, silently judging them. Seeing his gaze, I knew that he was mentally separating those in his head who was worth teaching.

Most of the students grabbed what they needed, but a few, mostly those in Ravenclaw, clearly knew that having high-quality ingredients was half the battle.

The first thing I did, ground my horn down to a fine powder, I saw next to me that Roger had done a rather poor job, with small chunks being present in his powder. Whispering out of the side of my mouth, "You need to do a better job with your powder."

The second I spoke, Professors Snape's dark eyes snapped to me, a slight narrowing of his eyes, informed me to keep my helpful comments to myself.

Deciding to take his silent warning to heart, I zoned everyone and focused on my potion. Once I had gotten every ingredient adequately prepared, I started on my potion.

The first step was to fill the cauldron to the fill line with water; then I added two pinches of Bicorn Horn, followed by the mandrake root. I took a deep breath; I knew that the timing was one of the most critical aspects of potion making.

I adjusted the slider to medium heat, which was located outside of the cauldron. The slide controlled the enchantment, which would heat the material inside. For exactly ten seconds, any deveation would have a negative effect on my potion.

Looking at my potion stopwatch my dad gave to me a few years before, I quickly turned the slider to the off position and set the timer to thirty minutes for the potion to brew.

When my timer showed exactly thirty minutes had expired, I added my three sprigs then stirred four times in a clockwise fashion. Next, I carefully raised my dropper that had salamander's blood in it and made sure I added five drops exactly, stirred two times anticlockwise.

Finally, I added, my four seeds, one at a time every three seconds, when I was finished, I waited one minute for my potion to set. After the minute passed, my potion turned the exact shade of red shown in the book.

Knowing that I had succeeded in creating my potion, I looked around the room to see how others were doing. I winced when I saw Sarah toss all four of her seeds in at the same time, her potion began boiling, and when it had finished her potion while technically still red was so dark, it was almost burgundy.

Taking a vial of my potion, I got in a line of students that were handing in their potions. In front of me was Roger, and when he gave his potion to Snape, his eyes narrowed at the green color of Roger's potion, which was supposed to be red. "Before the next class, turn in a two-page essay on the proper way to ground Bicorn Horn."

As Roger winced at Professor Snape's scathing tone. But, I marveled at Professor Snape's ability to accurately judge where a student went wrong in the brewing process. Considering the hundreds of different ways a student may mess up a potion, being able to tell with a glance what that student did wrong, demonstrated Professor Snape's mastery of potion-making.

While the books had always portrayed Snape's essays as unnecessary punishment, I took a different view; if Roger does his research and writes a good essay, he shouldn't make this mistake again in the future.

After him, I turned in my potion, Professor Snape looked at the color and didn't say anything, which I took to mean I made it correctly. Behind me was Jessica Brooks, whose potions was also the correct color. She shot me another challenging look, and once again, I was puzzled by her behavior. When I got back to my seat, I asked Roger, "What is that girl's problem?"

Seeing my gaze, he laughed, "Apparently you did too well in your classes yesterday, I heard her this morning telling her friends that she was determined to beat you in today's classes. It looks like you have a rival already."

Scoffing, I replied, "If she wants to be my rival, she is going to have to step it up a notch."

Apparently, I spoke loud enough for her to hear me, her face went red, and she glared adorably at me, with her eyes promising to defeat me.

After mouthing the words, good luck, I turned my attention back to Professor Snape. He continued the class by lecturing on the subject of potion-making. Near the end of class, Sarah, the mousy looking girl at our table, raised her hand when it seemed like Professor Snape was finished.

Seeing her raised hand, he narrowed his eyes and said, "Yes, Ms. Givens."

"Umm. Professor Snape, I was just wondering, where do potions come from who invented them? Some of the potions I've read about are extremely complicated, do wizards add random ingredient together over and over again until they get lucky?"

Professor Snape thoughtfully eyed her, turning he asked the class, "Does anyone here know the answer to Ms. Givens's question?"

Jessica's hand shot up so high as if she was afraid that Professor Snape wouldn't see her. Seeing how eager she was Professor Snape sighed and motioned for her to speak, "Potions making is complicated, and new recipes are rare, many potion masters never even experiment with new potions as the chances of them developing something new, is both expensive and the chances of success are low. Out of 100 potion master who is experimenting with new potions, maybe one or two will invent something new. Even then, what they invent may not be useful, or it may be similar to another potion already."

Professor Snape rolled his eyes at her response and mocked, "That is almost word for word what is in your textbook." Looking around the room, he asked, "Does anyone have an original thought on the subject?"

Seeing no one raise their hand, I threw mine up half-hardheartedly. Professor Snape saw me and sneered like he believed nothing I would say would impress him. "Go ahead, Mr. Fawley, please enlighten the class."

Clearing my throat, I said, "What Jessica said isn't wrong, that's the official line on how potions are invented, but there is another alternative that you won't find mentioned in any official textbook."

Pausing dramatically, I grinned as I saw the class lean forward in anticipation, "The Potioneer's Touch, or as it was originally called, The Hag's Blessing."

Blank looks appeared on everyone's faces, as none of them had ever heard about this before. Clarifying, I explained, "The potioneer's touch is a controversial topic. Some believe that once in a generation or two, a wizard or witch will be born with a magical gift that allows for them almost supernaturally to understand how potions work."

Seeing as I had everyone's attention, I continued, "Some accounts of those who had this gift. Claimed that when they were trying to invent or perfect an old potion, it was like the idea of what to do next would pop into their head. Of course, many master potion makers scoff at this and argue that potion making is the result of long experimentation and that the idea of someone having a magical gift that helps with potion making is hogwash. That is why you won't find The Potioneer's Touch in any official textbook."

After pausing to let the idea ferment, I explained, "Now what lends credit to their point of view, is that there has been potion master who has invented new potions recipes, and who clearly state that they don't have any such magical gift. However, most of these recipes are rather simple, for me, all the proof I need to believe in the gift, is the potion that gives luck, Felix Felicis. One of the most complicated potions invented, it has to be carefully brewed for over six months. It would take dozens of lifetimes for a potion master to figure out how to create this potion from scratch, but if you look up who created the recipe, you will find out that Zygmunt Budge invented this potion is the 16th century when he was 22 years old. His young age is what makes me believe that this gift is real if there can be wizards who can transform their bodies at will or even speak to snakes, why can't there be one who has a gift for potion making."

Seeing Professor Snape's expression, I knew he was impressed against his will. The only reason why I even knew about this was becuase when I was younger, I asked my mom if it would be possible to modify potion recipes to make them better, and she told me about the myth of the potioneer's touch.

Grudgingly he called out, five points to Ravenclaw, and I shot Jessica a smug grin. I may have just set a record; I'll bet Snape has never given points to another first-year who wasn't in his house on the first day of class.