Professor Farman looked over the students that would be in his introductory magic class. Everyone was fairly typical. Well, except for that Lila, but she was sadly not in his class. He sighed. Eight years old and with such impressive results. Sadly, he was not involved with the class assignments, and thus could do nothing about it.

If he was only, truly, teaching a typical class, he still would have been fine. However, there was still one member of his class that was out of the ordinary. A child of seven years old… he would normally have been glad to have such a genius. However, this one displayed absolutely no sign of being able to actually use magic. The theoretical test… Professor Farman assumed he must have cheated. Therefore, he would test this William, and when he found him lacking, would get him expelled. It was that simple.

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It should have been simple, but over the first few weeks it wasn’t proving to be that way. First, William actually volunteered to answer most of the questions posed to the class in general, and he got the answers right. There wasn’t any sign of anybody helping him. This frustrated Professor Farman, so he started asking harder questions, specifically targeted towards William. Eventually, they got to the point where they were out of the scope of the class. Normally, Professor Farman wouldn’t have let it get to that point. After all, he prided himself on being fair. However, he just couldn’t believe someone with no magical aptitude, which was never too far removed from understanding of magical theory, could possibly answer the questions he had been asking, at least, not at such a young age. Thus, the questions got increasingly more difficult. Finally, one day, he stumped William.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know the answer…” Professor Farman smiled, but only on the inside. Finally, he’d gotten him! “...yet. Can I get back to you tomorrow?” Professor Farman somewhat came to his senses, and allowed it. However, he planned to watch William’s movements, to see who it was that must be feeding him information. Therefore, he prepared to follow him, no matter what dark alleyways he entered… such as… the library? Well, that would be a good place for a clandestine meeting, as well.

However, William only talked to one person. The librarian. That was, of course, to ask where the section on a certain topic was. Then, he went there and started pulling books off of the shelves. Professor Farman still thought he wouldn’t be able to do anything, with so many books. It was impossible to read them all in an evening. Indeed, William didn’t read them all. Instead, he scanned a few pages near the beginning of each, then a few more pages throughout each of them. Finally, he returned most of the books to the shelves. If he really found the right book, and the right section, so quickly, he must have actually understood most of the background of the question. Eventually, William took some notes, and though it took him several hours, he seemed satisfied, and put the final book back on the shelves.

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In class the next day, William answered Professor Farman’s question, not perfectly, but more than adequately. For a moment, Professor Farman was annoyed. After all, he wanted to kick this kid out of the school. After all, he couldn’t stand cheating. Then, he thought about it. He wasn’t cheating. He’d seen it. Quite simply, the kid knew his stuff. In the end, though, Professor Farman called William to stay after class.

“William. I have observed your progress in this class, and I have to say quite frankly, that you cannot remain in this class. It would be a waste of both of our times.”

“Why, sir? Were my answers dissatisfactory?”

“The answers were adequate. The problem is, for the last two weeks, the questions haven’t really been appropriate for this class. They are more appropriate for those in the second level class. Thus, I am recommending your move to the second level class… specifically the section I also teach. If you are nervous about being in a class with those even more your senior… then just spend the time you would otherwise be in my class wisely, and prepare yourself for next year.” Professor Farman didn’t mention that the hardest question had really been most appropriate for the third level, but he hadn’t been fully satisfied with the answers William gave for the second level questions. None of the answers were wrong, though. Just less complete than he liked.

William wasn’t sure how to react. He had gotten the feeling that Professor Farman didn’t like him. In fact, that still seemed to be true. He had definitely noticed the questions getting harder, and even before he’d been stumped, had gone to do extra study in the library, based on the types of questions he thought would come up. It helped that Professor Farman was fair, even with the more advanced questions, since they were still about the appropriate subjects that were in the lesson plan, and the sections of the textbooks they were in. Thus, he’d barely managed to make it through. So, William was unsure of whether being advanced was just a trap to load him with more difficult work… but he also had to agree that the first level class wasn’t a good use of his time. So, he accepted the move, tentatively.