The Boy Who Dreamed

I'm a What?

  For the next month, Izuku Midoriya did what Izuku Midoriya did best.

  He studied hard.

  After seven years of being belittled because of his powerlessness Izuku had finally learned what he'd always wanted to hear.

  He wasn't a freak. He wasn't an abomination of nature.

  He was a wizard. He could do magic, and do magic he did.

  The first book he went through was his charms textbook. Swish, incantation. The instructions were so easy it was almost insulting. Even the extra charms book he had was worked through with little trouble.

  Next was transfiguration. Turn a match into a needle? Done. Paper into an animated origami bunny? Finished in under an hour.

  Izuku's brain was like an archive, but instead of hero knowledge and quirk analysis, he was now filling it with spells and wandwork.

  After Transfiguration it was Defence Against the Dark Arts. That had been almost laughable, the contents were just things you could come up with via common sense like 'dont touch sharp things like teeth and claws.'. Some of it was useful, like how to tell a curse from a jinx by the spell's colour, but that was very late in the textbook.

  Potions was like chemistry. Memorization was key, but once you knew how to do something, that something then applied to almost every other part of the curriculum.

  Professor McGonagall was wrong. He needed new books by Thursday. She'd left him the rest of the 150 Galleons, both for paying Tom the inkeeper for a room and for buying more textbooks.

  Ollivander had mentioned his wand being good for dueling, so he bought a few books on that. He found that he rather enjoyed the concept, especially Transfiguration dueling, which was very different to normal dueling. Transfiguration Dueling was more for showing off than a real battle where offensive spells like Petrificus Totalus and Expelliarmus were thrown at your opponent.

  He had nobody to duel with, but the spells seemed to work just fine when he cast them at a stone wall.

  September first couldn't come quickly enough. Professor McGonagall arrived early in the morning to pick him up in time for the train. They apparated to King's Cross, where she led Izuku to a brick wall between platforms 9 and 10.

  "Here you are Mr Midoriya. Walk through that wall and you will appear on the platform."

  Izuku thanked the witch and with only slight hesitation, walked through the barrier between platforms 9 and 10.

  As he passed the illusion, a bright red locomotive was revealed to him, with several carriages behind it. There were few people on the platform, as Izuku was exceptionally early.

The greenette boarded the train, using the levitation charm to get his unwieldy trunk onboard and onto the luggage rack in an empty compartment.

  He sat down and opened his Intermediate charms textbook which was definitely not intended for third years at all.

  A half hour later and someone knocked on the door. He'd heard several people going up and down the corridor outside and settling into the compartments either side of him, but nobody had disturbed him until now.

  Izuku stood and opened the door, coming face to face with a mane of bushy brown curls framing a girl's face.

  "Do you mind if I sit in here? Everywhere else is too loud to read." She said.

  Izuku just shook his head.

  I'm talking to a girl!! He thought ironically.

  The greenette sat down and watched the girl levitate her trunk onto the luggage rack using the same spell he did earlier, before sitting and pulling out the intermediate transfiguration textbook that was definitely not meant for third years in the slightest.

  "I was going to get that one, but I decided to get Charms instead." Izuku blurted, showing her his Intermediate Charms textbook.

  The girl looked up, no small amount of surprise in her eyes.

  "I was planning on getting both, but in the end my parents only let me have one. I'm just rereading it because it's the most advanced book I own." She said.

  "W-would you like to swap?" Izuku asked.

  The girl nodded, closing her book and handing it over to Izuku. The greenette in turn gave the girl his own textbook.

  "I'm Hermione Granger." The girl said.

  "I-I'm Izuku Midoriya.." Izuku replied.

  The girl's eyes narrowed a moment in thought.

  "Your accent is a little strange. Where are you from?"

  "Japan."

  "You speak English very well. I'm not nearly as good with languages as I am with other subjects."

  "My Dad works in America, si I had a good incentive to learn."

  Hermione thought for a moment.

  "I wonder if spells would still work if you spoke them in another language."

  "I would think they should. Spellcasting is more about intent than incantation. But as most incantations are in Latin, I'm not sure what the English or Japanese equivalents would be." Izuku explained. He blushed at the intense focus she was staring at him with. "I-I'm interested in dueling, it's one of the t-things talked about in the chantless c-casting section. O-Ollivander said my wand would be good for d-dueling..."

  Hermione hummed to herself.

  "Interesting. So if I were to do the wand movement and intend to use Wingardium Leviosa, but say nothing, theoretically, it should work?"

  Izuku's head jerked up and down a few times nervously.

  Hermione glanced between Izuku and the book in her hands, thinking.

  "Are you muggleborn too?" She asked.

  "Yeah." Izuku said.

  Hermione smiled.

  "I thought so. You've read through all of the study material already, just like I have. That's why you have intermediate charms meant for third year classes. You're just like me."

  "Do people make fun of you for being smart too? Or actually wanting to do schoolwork, to learn?

  "Yeah. I just try and ignore them though. They might have superpowers, but we have magic Izuku!"

  The two eleven year olds spent the train ride talking enthusiastically about magic and all of the charms they'd learned. It was dark outside when the train finally pulled up to Hogsmead station, a giant man waiting for them on the platform.

  "Firs' years to me! Firs' years!!"