Advanced Summoning || Lesson Three

Hey hey hey! Got back with another AS lesson. If you're new to this series, please check out Lesson One (and Lesson Two as well) before looking over this one! I think I tried something a little different with this one, and I hope it goes well. Feel free to Owl or DM me on Discord about it! I'm always open to ideas.

Without further ado, Advanced Summoning: Lesson Three!

“Mr...Blackburn?” A young girl rose up on her tiptoes, trying to reach the pendulum to knock at the Deputy Headmaster’s office. “Mr. Blackbuuuuurn,” she sang, rocking back and forth on her heels, waiting for an answer. She crossed her small, pale hands behind her back impatiently, fidgeting with her fingers. It was challenging to hide that she was nervous.

It was her third year, and she had been thinking about this conversation all too much. She was frequently sitting in the common room, pondering upon how she could explain the situation at hand to the man in charge. It was all that was on her mind since the first time she had entered that wretched dungeon for the forbidden class…

“Come in,” a soothing voice called from inside the office. With a wave of his wand and a small incantation, the door opened, revealing Charms Professor and Deputy Headmaster Ackerley Blackburn, sitting at his desk, grading papers. As soon as he saw the small girl waddle in, he shuffled the assignments into a pile and placed them aside. “Now, what brings you here this fine afternoon?” His smile greeted her like a receptionist would have at a hotel. Reasoning? It was rare to see students directly come to his office for an issue, especially since it was all the way up the tower.

The girl remained standing, her robe flaring out as she clenched her fingers together. “Well, I just had a little question for you.” She had clearly practiced this. Maybe in a mirror to herself or a trusted friend heard it a couple times over. It was so perfect that she narrowed her eyes at the right time before she asked the pivotal inquiry. “Have you ever heard of a practice called...uh...Advanced Summoning?”

Professor Blackburn froze for a moment. This notion caused him to swivel in his chair a little. To say he was shocked was an understatement. “It sounds oddly familiar.” He slowly rose to his feet, eyeing the girl. “Knaggs, isn’t it? Edie?”


The girl nodded. “Yes sir, correct.”

Blackburn’s eyes met with Edie’s while Denise began to crawl up Ackerley’s arm. The girl recoiled a little, still not used to seeing the almost 50-year-old man with a spider ascending his bicep. “Down, Denise.” He slowly ushered the spider back onto the table where it traversed the mountains of paper he had on his desk. “Sorry, my memory has been a bit iffy lately. Now, what is it about this...Advanced Summoning, yes?”

“Oh, yes! Where was I?” Her hair bounced when she swirled her head, moving a little closer to the Deputy Headmaster, formidable (and intimidating) as always, even with new streaks of gray hair. “Yes! So..I’m not sure if you’ve noticed a new class on some students’ schedules or not, but...well, have you? It’s not mentioned in most basic curriculums...”

Ackerley’s eyes widened like an eye emoji, leaning over towards her after checking to see the door behind her was shut. “Th-There is?” The Professor muttered some anxious French under his breath before promptly sitting down. “Tell me more, tell me more.” He was aware of his reference to Grease’s “Summer Nights”.

Edie’s face grew a little pensive as she pursed her lips. “Well, there was this class on my schedule called Advanced Summoning, led by this weird guy named Anatole. It’s in this deep room back in the basement, and I’m not really sure if he’s supposed to be there or not…” Now, she decided to remind her that she was, indeed, a good person. “He didn’t tell us not to tell anyone or anything, but I just thought it would be best to come to you.”

It was challenging to jog the Charms Professor’s memory at times.“Anatole…” His pupils enlarged, finally remembering the kid with the fancy name. The room was silent for a moment, and Ackerley sat down again, looking at the floor and sighing. “I will take care of it. Trust me.”

Edie smiled at the Headmaster, almost breaking character. “Oh, thank you so much! It means a lot.” She fidgeted with her thumbs again, tilting her head at him.

He was flickering. In and out, a steady pulse. His atoms seemed to jumble themselves and he became more transparent, Denise acting as usual. “You’re welcome.”

The girl had no idea what was going on, and slowly, she backed away, afraid books would fly off the shelves at a rapid pace, or his wand would shoot a beam up at the sky, eradicating her or something else dangerous. “Mr...Blackburn? Mr. Blackburn!?!?”

All of a sudden, Blackburn was gone.



”Now, I’ve been telling you that Advanced Summoning is based on an attention span, yes? Well, good news for you. Here we have our first sort-of law.” Anatole smiled, commanding the chalk dictate what he said on the board with a wave of his wand. ”I call it ‘The Evans Principle'. Yes, it’s based after me since I am quite the pioneer in this art.” He walked through the classroom, watching the students take anxious notes...like they should. ”In shorthand, it says that in basic Advanced Summoning, the length of time a target is summoned is due to the length of their attention span unless discovered otherwise.” He looked at his nails, continuing with his monologue for the day. ”You don’t need to know the...uh, exceptions yet, I haven’t discovered many of them in my day.”

With yet another gesture of his wand, the chalk stopped writing. ”Now, watch today’s example.” Anatole pulled out his device, projecting what he typed on the board. Once again, he read what he was typing, this time in a high, obnoxious voice. “Ugh, Leonie gave me a P on her stupid homework.” It registered even though he was no longer a student; the summoning did not discriminate.

Anatole smirked at the class as Herbology Professor Sorrel Wright stormed into the room. “Excuse me, WHAT did you say about Leonie?” She hastily pointed to the door. “This better be good, my plants are dying as we speak!” Her dark hair bounced on her head as she moved toward what little light source there was in the room. “Evans, if you say one more word about Leonie freaking Scheinberg, I will not hesitate to sharpen a leaf and stab it at you or puncture your flesh with a million thorns!”

The students giggled at Professor Wright’s absurd reaction. It was a little overkill for one snide comment, yes, but Sorrel did as she liked. ”Yes, okay, I understand. I won’t ever mention her again.” He nodded slowly and mindlessly, doing anything to kill her attention span.

“Good.” The forty-seven-year-old stormed back to the middle of the room, blowing her hair out of her face and complaining, “Decorate this room a little better too. It’s bland.” She crossed her arms, turning her back to the students and facing Anatole. “If you would excuse me, Evans, I have some plants to get back to. Hope they’re not DEAD by now!” The Herbology Professor left just as quickly as she arrived, slamming the door behind her.

”And, now that is a lesson on attention span.” Anatole placed his device back on the desk. ”Sorrel is probably the best Professor to demonstrate. If you didn’t notice, her cue is insulting her two loves: Leonie and Plants. It’s hard to keep a conversation with her if you don’t mention those two subjects.” The Advanced Summoning Professor swished some spit around in his mouth, leaning against the desk. ”The Evans Principle in action.”

Oddly, the students collectively gasped. ”What...what’s wrong? There’s clearly nothing wrong with the Evans Principle, it’s proven and all…”

A Gryffindor guy almost blurted out something before a Hufflepuff slapped a hand over his mouth. A Ravenclaw smiled, embracing the awe of whatever strange had been going on behind the Professor. A Slytherin just turned, observing everyone else’s reactions. One grew confused...where was Edie?

Grabbing both of his hands to the Hufflepuff’s wrist, the boy ripped the hand off of his mouth, shouting, ”Hey there, Ackerley!” The Hufflepuff just shook his head.

And A Pole slowly turned, seeing a large, gray-locked figure flickering in and out above him, his arms crossed and his head eyeing the Professor curiously. “Why, hello, Evans.”

Backing up, Anatomy shoved a Ravenclaw off of his tin pedestal known as a “chair”, picking it up with both hands. ”I swear...I swear…” His feet inched toward his desk where Ackerley was pulsing. Anatole’s hands were sweaty, his face growing red and his hair suddenly greasy. It was not a good look. ”Stop…coming in here…” The pupils exchanged nervous glances, some hugging each other out of fear for their safety. It was true, something could go horribly wrong. After all, their teacher was the same man who broke a teacup and a phone the last class. ”There’s a reason I don’t know how to summon you…” Anatubby’s knuckles grew white as he shouted the last phrase, ”...you piece of rubbish!” He threw the can at the flickering forty-seven-year-old, it going through him and hitting the back wall with a loud bang! Students jumped out of their seats, some even tripping.

Anatole had thrown it at the perfect moment. The atoms had disappeared in the area right where he threw it. Like a caveman, the Professor was breathless and angered. He would do anything not to get discovered.

Deputy Headmaster Blackburn just stood there, crying with laughter like the joy emoji. He wiped a few tears, barely stuttering out a sentence. “I wouldn’t try.”

The bystanders were silent as Anatole put his foot down. ”Just get OUT!” There was no point in shouting. Advanced Summoning was based on attention spans...except for the exceptions.

What a normal person found interesting, Ackerley paid no mind to. Surely, this whole brawl would have kept him a moment longer, even if it was Sorrel instead of him. An argument holds anyone’s attention...except Ackerley. He glitched out after Anatole had screamed.

The makeshift classroom lingered in silence. Well, mostly silence, besides the small whispers containing gossip or deadly opinions. No matter how much he had sworn to them to never tell anyone, this would be going in the Gossip Column in every newspaper. There was only one way to repair it....

”I’m s...s--”

The same Gryffindor boy who had alerted Anatole about the mess piped up again. ”You’re sorry, we get it. We’re not mindless kids playing in some..fictional world or whatever.”

Antelope laughed for once, motioning to the Gryffindor. ”Hey, thanks.” Wiping the sweat from his brow and looking at the children, he checked his watch. ”You know what time it is.”

The students were still anxious, their faces tense and confused whether they should trust their “Professor” or not.

”Get out.”

Like a flock of birds startled by a sound, the students dispersed, racing out and attempting to dodge all the obstacles outside the dark, gross classroom. Anatole just sat there in silence for a moment. After thinking, he picked up the tin seat, now dented, and placed it back in its rightful position before climbing up to the single, small, ground-level window and shoving himself out, escaping the prison of the school.






One. What is the name of the principle we learned today?
Two. Name two pieces of evidence for the principle named in Question One (you may make them up as well).
Three. What two subjects must you mention to summon (and provoke) the Herbology Professor?


BONUS: Four. Give me your honest opinion about this lesson! I want to see what you think.