This universe is the property of JK Rowling. The OC is inspired by a member of the Teachers' Lounge Forum, but may or may not bear any resemblance to the actual person.

He kept to himself on the train. He had no idea what to do or whom to speak with, anyhow. He was older than the first-year kids and different from the older kids. He shouldn't be there, although he belonged. The last year had been a difficult time, but exhilarating and new as well.

There he'd been, prowling a bookshop in Galway, bringing the books to himself as he always did, when someone walked around a bookshelf and smiled at him. He held his hand out. "I'm Ted Tonks. I don't believe we've met. Are you just out of Hogwarts? Perhaps you've met my daughter, Nymphadora?"

"Er, the name is Declan, and I don't know what the hell you're talking about."

The other person, a chubby sort of guy who would be completely average in normal clothes and wasn't quite non-average even in a university robe of some sort, looked a little worried. "I've been watching you practicing magic for half an hour. Did you go to one of the other schools?"

"I really don't know what you're talking about. It's just this trick I can do, it's no big deal. Don't go crazy on me."

The older fellow nodded his head. "You mean like this?" Declan's table lifted off the floor and slowly spun in a perfect circle, and then gently dropped down again. Declan wouldn't have believed it had actually happened except it landed on his foot. In his own frustration, he let out a yell and the table slid across the room until it bumped another table.

"What is this? You can't do that! There are laws of nature, you know!"

The gentleman smiled and nodded. "There are a great many laws of nature that most people don't understand. I see you like to read books on a great variety of subjects. Why don't you read these three, and we'll meet here in say a month?"

Without Declan's understanding how they got there, some ancient-looking books were under the older man's hand on the table. The older man winked and left the books behind. History of Magic by someone named Cogsworth, Simple Charms by Belinda Smookins, and From Mind to Wand, by Eliphinda Ollivander.

Declan had come back within the month. Certain stories about an estranged grandfather suddenly made sense, and the simple spells in the books had been ridiculously easy for him. Tonks gave him three new books and a card with an address on it. "Turbulent times ahead. We may have to stop meeting, and if we ever do, feel free to go to this address. The wife knows about you and will pick up wherever I leave off."

And so it went for the next six months. Tonks brought him books, and they discussed various topics about magic. "I'm basically leading you through the first several years of what you would learn at Hogwarts, since you're already almost of age, in magical reckoning. At some point, I'll have to let the Ministry know about you, but that's a tricky thing at this point."

"What's the matter with the Ministry?"

"A group are trying to take over who don't like people who don't have at least two or preferably three magical grandparents."

"That's racist! Someone should do something about that! Vote the bastards out!"

"Well, we're working on it, but the bastards, as you call them, have great skill, magically, and no qualms about using it to overpower everyone else."

"But thats-" Declan thought for a moment and sputtered out.

"Exactly. We're going to have to use a certain amount of finesse to get this to work. It makes your situation a little difficult, but at some point, we'll probably win out. If you and I lose contact, go to the wife. She's about as pure blood as they come, and she'll look after you. She looked after me."

They moved their meeting places around, and over time Tonks started to look a bit haggard. He lost weight, and there were circles under his eyes. Then came the meeting that Tonks missed. Declan had never taken Tonks's comments about danger seriously, but now it was time to worry.

He waited a month and came back, again. Tonks didn't show up this time either.

He finally went to the address Tonks gave him. The woman who answered was tired but kind, and she introduced him to some friends in the Ministry. It seemed that through Ted Tonks's tutelage, Declan was ready to go to Hogwarts for the same seventh year that many students were either taking or repeating in the coming year. Thus it was that Declan found himself on the train with a packed trunk, robes similar to what Tonks had worn at most of their meetings, and books that Declan had already read cover to cover.

The sorting hat was an odd experience, arguing on his head between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw until the hat seemed almost tired of the question and shouted, "RAVENCLAW!" Someone pointed to a table where most of the trimmings were blue, and he sat down thankfully.

"So how is it that you've taken so long to become a student here? Are you a transfer from one of the other schools?" Declan looked across the table at a brown-haired girl who didn't seem to match the other students.

"No, I was sort of discovered in a book shop. A wizard named Ted Tonks taught me most of what I know over the last year or so."

"We knew his daughter."

Declan found himself growing heated. "It's all so stupid! All those bigots, just killing people for no good reason! Someone should-"

A blonde girl Declan hadn't noticed before turned and put her finger on his lips. "You get very excited, don't you? I think you have special skills. You need to look within and find your quiet place."

The brown haired girl rolled her eyes. "Oh, Luna, how could you know that?"

Luna shrugged a slim shoulder, a slight movement that captured Declan's every thought and emotion at that moment. "Not everything is in books, Hermione. You know that as well as anyone."

A few weeks went by, and Declan found that Hermione was a girl after his own heart. She and he worked well, together and worked hard, with the result that one or both of them led the seventh years in almost every subject. Hermione became his best friend, easily taking up the lessons Tonks had given him and continuing them. Declan easily found himself adopting many of her attitudes as they mirrored the sorts of things he'd always fought for as a school student before he discovered magic.

"House elves need rights!" he declaimed at breakfast one morning. "It's not fair that sentient beings should be treated like slaves or animals!" For the first time in weeks, Luna turned and smiled at him, putting her finger over his lips again. He was rendered motionless, he was sure of it. There was no other reason he wouldn't start kissing her fingertips. "You haven't found your special skills yet, have you? You don't have to be so vehement all the time. Are you going to find your quietness?"

He shook his head, and she continued. "It's a shame, you know. You should talk to the House elves. Since they're sentient, they have their own opinions and probably would be willing to share what they think with you."

He was finally able to back away. "But Hermione says..."

Luna nodded. "Hermione isn't wrong, but she never asked the House elves, herself. Don't you think you could better work for what they need if you know what they think on the subject?"

Declan couldn't argue, and although his mind screamed a thousand things that should refute what Luna was saying, somehow he knew logic was on her side.

"Come," she said, so he went with her.

They went down to a pen near the Forbidden Forest. She climbed into the pen and he followed. "We have to be very, very quiet," she said. "Just ask Draco."

Declan made a face. He'd met Malfoy and had a dim view of the wanker. He had fallen into some sort of spell, however, and knew he would do exactly what Luna told him for the next few minutes. Somehow he felt that he was learning an extracurricular lesson, and for the first time all term, it was something that had the flavor of the instinctual magic Tonks had taught him.

Something rustled in the trees. Luna whispered. "This is when we kneel and bow our heads."

"But that's demeaning!" he hissed, quietly, because the animal looked fierce.

"Just do it."

He would later learn that the majestic creature was called a Hippogriff, and that most students weren't allowed near them. In the quiet, he felt a humility in the presence of the animal and felt his way into kneeling and bowing. Suddenly, the animal bowed, too. Luna tugged his arm. "Now we can climb on his back."

"But-" suddenly, he knew to just be quiet. He climbed on behind Luna and held on around her waist, since she seemed to know how to hold on to the animal.

Suddenly they were flying, and Declan saw things in his head and felt his affinity for the magical creature.

"You know," Luna said, "Somehow I feel as though your name is really Rolf...