Somehow, through the collision of being both Antonio Lestrange and Barthanial Botts, he managed, not just to keep up appearances, but to keep up with the homework and studious student activities that he'd promised himself to excel in, and defiantly succeed comparable to his peers. And he certainly did just that, almost to his own surprise.
Thanial twirled his wand effortlessly in the correct movements for a shielding charm and projected the spell simultaneously from his mind - the timing was paramount, but he'd improved fastly enough that nobody suspected his wand to be anything other than normal.
The bluish hue sprang up just as the hex was about to hit him. The hex rebounded, shooting fastly back towards Ronald Weasley's orange head, a seventh-year Gryffindor and unsurprisingly one of Ginny's brothers, who'd been paired up with Thanial and who'd foolishly used a hex that wasn't allowed in school duels.
Thanial could see Ronald's eyes open in realization, and just a moment too late to parry or make any verbal incantation.
Thanial pocketed his wand just before Ronald's body flung and whirled back against the wall.
The thudding sound of a body hitting the floor.
The duel was over and Thanial made the customary bow, though the redhead still laid face down, making muted groaning noises.
The head of Gryffindor House, and Transfiguration-professor Minerva McGonagall hurried over to help the boy up.
The Dueling Club took place in the Great Hall at eight o'clock in the evening, every Thursday. The long dining tables had vanished and golden stages had appeared along the walls, lit by thousands of candles floating overhead. The ceiling was velvety black and most of the school seemed to be packed beneath them, all carrying their wands and looking excited about the club's first rendezvous after the winter holidays.
Draco, Blaise, and some of the other Slytherins cheered as Thanial made his way down to let the next participants begin.
It had taken Thanial a great deal of time before he'd enjoyed flying, but the opposite had been the case when introduced to the art of dueling. It was exhilarating and intense(in most matches at least), and it made his body and mind connect like never before; made the link stronger and his reflexes faster.
Thanial found his place amidst the Slytherins and watched the matches with a polite smile. The professors moved through the crowd, matching up partners. Flitwick teamed Draco with Justin Finch-Fletchley, and Thanial noticed that Professor Snape had walked amidst the Gryffindors now that McGonagall was occupied, and reached Jane Potter and a bushy-haired girl first - Hermione, if Thanial remembered correctly.
'Time to split up the dream team, I think,' he sneered. 'Granger, you can partner Finnigan. Potter -'
She moved automatically toward another friend.
'I don't think so,' said Snape, smiling coldly. 'Mr. Botts, come over here. Let's see what you make of the famous Potter. And you, Miss Granger - you can partner Miss Bulstrode.'
Thanial could guess what the potions-master was trying to prove and strutted over, still smiling gently. He didn't think Jane ever meant to be selfish, he really didn't. She was, of course, as self-centered as a child. For her, the world that mattered stopped at the tip of her nose. Thanial came to think of her as emotionally blind, she just couldn't see, couldn't empathize with what other people thought or felt. And isn't the unknown always a bit scary? She treated everyone like they were too frightening to get close to. She interacted of course, she laughed and joked, she would even make nice gestures from time to time, though not towards the Slytherins. But ask her a personal question and she would recoil faster than a snapped high-tension spring. After that you'd be in her no-friend zone for a while, isolated until you learned your lesson. Ginny had told him that; explained that they had once been close friends, but that Ginny had made a mistake of some trivial nature, but still enough of a mistake to end the relationship.
Thanial had never faced Jane Potter in a duel, but had seen her multiple times - and she was very good.
'Face your partners!' called Snape from the masses of watching students. 'And bow!'
Thanial and Potter barely inclined their heads, not taking their eyes off each other.
'Wands at the ready!' shouted Snape. 'One… two… three -'
Thanial swung his wand high, but Potter had already started on 'two': Her spell hit Thanial so hard he felt as though he'd been hit in the stomach with the end of a shovel. He stumbled backward, but everything still seemed to be working, and wasting no more time, Thanial pointed his wand straight at Potter and shouted, 'Expulso!' for the sake of consistency with regard to the rules.
A jet of blue light hit Potter in the stomach and she doubled up, wheezing.
'No blasting curses!' Professor Black shouted in alarm over the heads of the battling crowd, as Potter sank to her knees; Thanial had hit her with a very weak blasting curse, and she could barely move for breath. Thanial hung back, with a vague feeling it would be unsporting to bewitch Potter while she was on the floor, but this was a mistake; gasping for breath, Potter pointed her wand at Thanial's knees, choked, 'Bombarda!' and the next second Thanial's hand made an upward motion on instinct and a stream of liquid gold sprang up from the platform; reconstructing part of the platform into a protective wall just before the explosion rang from the other side.
'Stop! Stop!' screamed Black over the blast, but Snape took charge. 'Finite Incantatem!' he shouted; Thanial's wall wobbled for a moment and then dissolved back into the plateau, Potter caught her breath, and they were able to look at each other.
A haze of greenish smoke was hovering over the scene. Both Draco and Justin were lying on the floor, panting; Blaise was holding up an ashen-faced Pansy, apologizing for whatever he had done; but Hermione and Millicent Bulstrode were still moving; Hermione had Millicent backed into a corner and Millicent was whimpering in pain; both their wands tossing different colored spells erratically at each other.
'Mr. Botts and Miss Potter, you may resume,' Snape's voice rang again. 'Three - two - one - go!' he shouted.
'Stupefy,' Potter said immediately.
The red bolt moved like lightning along the podium, crackling and twisting, and Thanial barely shielded himself before two new followed it.
He flung his school-robes out to stop them - the robes had after all been enchanted to repel curses from Death Eaters.
He could hear two small hissing sounds from the fabric and knew it had worked.
'No use of robes!' roared Professor Black.
Thanial ignored the reprimand and shot a green stunner back at Potter.
She dodged nimbly to the left and fired back. 'Stupefy!'
Thanial had time to put his shielding charm on, but the power of the spell upon impact was far greater than before and he staggered for a moment - what was up with that? Had she put more energy into the spell?
'STUPEFY!' she spoke louder than before.
Thanial had no time to be offensive and used a shield charm - again he stumbled upon impact - even more than before. How did her stunner suddenly become stronger?
This time everyone in the Great Hall could hear her. 'STUPEFY!'
Thanial knew that instant that he wouldn't be able to withstand it again and thought very quickly: He knew of the Impediment Jinx that would slow a target down, for some ten seconds or so, but that didn't work on spells obviously. The idea was worth a shot though - if not Impedimenta, but that effect then...
Thanial's wandless hand palmed in the direction of the bolt, feeling the hairs stand up along his arm, and then he made a fist.
The bolt stopped midair.
Potter's stunner was sparkling tamely a few feet from Thanial, not blocked, not countered, not deflected, caught like a fly in honey; fizzing and lashing out with small red sparks.
Thanial understood what made up the stunner - well somewhat, but it was one of the easier spells to comprehend. Lightning that numbs was easier understood then a tickling charm that tickles for example. Lightning as an element could be controlled.
Thanial could feel its electricity slowly make it harder to hold into place and promptly released his grip away from him, and the bolt flashed red to his left, hitting a wall and dying out.
The girl facing him looked appalled and cried louder and lounder, sending more and more stunners, each one more powerful.
Thanial understood now finally, and not only that. He got it! Why her spells were stronger each time.
There were more flashes of light as more desperate spells were fired, but they fizzled out in midair like candle-flames touching water.
'Could you please stop using your birthcraft Miss Potter? I would rather you fight fairly,' Thanial said politely though slightly out of breath - catching and stifling stunner-bolts took a toll on his stamina.
Her face twisted. 'Alright...' She raised her wand quickly and bellowed, 'Petralapis!'
The end of her wand exploded. Thanial watched the summoning, surprised, as great dark stones shot out of it, fell heavily onto the floor between them, and then levitated, ready to strike. There were screams as the crowd backed swiftly away, clearing the floor.
'Concede, Botts,' said Black lazily, clearly enjoying the sight of Thanial standing motionless against his goddaughter, eye to eye with an artillery of small boulders. 'This is beyond what the teach at Durmstrang I believe...'
Jane Potter's upper lip was curling. Thanial wondered why Snape was still smiling; did Snape think that highly of him? Or perhaps Snape realized that he'd been using transmutation on the platform instead of transfiguration - perhaps Snape could see that he was an alchemist? Thanial, unfortunately, had no time to ponder and turned his eyes to meet Potter's, returning the smirk.
Her smile stretched all the way to her ears before her arm shot directly in his direction whereupon the stones shot off like cannons.
Thanial only had a second, but he understood the elements adequately enough to know that those stones were granite, a common rock, that was a combination of the minerals quartz, feldspar, and biotite. That was really all it took.
He flung his wand-arm out in a semi-circle, and as if he had a large spherical shield protecting him, the rocks turned to sand just before hitting him, one after the other, letting the particles swirl around him until the last stone. He had to tighten his eyes.
The sand whirled around him faster and faster, slowly taking a more solid form and becoming a dense ring of stone once more.
In the hands of a wandless alchemist even stone was like dough to be formed, and as Thanial willed the image, the ring of solid stone surrounding him separated and made a single cylinder; The form of a limbless dragon, shooting forward the next second in a dazzling flash, like a spear piercing the air and Potter was blasted off her feet: She flew backward off the stage, smashed into the wall, and slid down it to sprawl on the floor. The long stone then fell down with a crash that almost cracked the floor.
Thanial knew she wasn't hurt badly. He had been in complete control, and wizards could take a punch a bit harder than any muggle. Her birthcraft was advantageous, to say the least; being able to draw more magical strength by oral velocity and pitch... well, he'd surely lost if he hadn't thought so quickly. He felt drained though - tired.
He tried to keep his shoulders back and chest up before he bowed politely.
He straightened again and saw McGonagall help Potter up. Potter's eyes met his for just a moment and then she sneered.
'In the future, Mr. Botts,' said Snape as he got down, 'You might want to restrain yourself. That's not to say I wasn't impressed, but remember that - keeping one's tricks hidden is often the better choice, in the end.'
Thanial understood completely and nodded. He didn't feel like he'd let anyone down because Snape's words had a different meaning when Thanial saw that giant grin he wore.
'On a different matter entirely,' added the Potions-master, 'The Headmaster would like have some words with you. As soon as possible actually, so if you'd care to join me Mr. Botts.'
Thanial nodded again, ignoring the many stares as he followed Snape out of the hall. 'Thank you Professor.'
They walked in silence for a long time and ascended more stairs and arrived at more floors than the castle ought to have. In theory, they should be above the roofs by know, but Thanial had gotten used to things like that, though he hadn't grown tired of it. He loved Hogwarts.
'Please don't worry too much, Mr. Potter,' said Professor Snape in front of Thanial. 'Headmaster Dumbledore may seem a little odd, or a lot odd, or even extremely odd, but he has never hurt a student in the slightest, and I don't believe he ever will.' Professor Snape gave Thanial a thin smile. 'Just keep that in mind at all times.'
Thanial had felt fine until then. This was not helping.
'Good luck Mr. Botts,' said Snape, leaned over to the gargoyle and said something that Thanial somehow failed to hear at all. (Of course, the password wouldn't be much good if you could hear someone saying it.) And the stone gargoyle walked aside with a very natural and ordinary movement that Thanial found rather shocking, since the gargoyle still looked like solid, immovable stone the whole time.
Behind the gargoyle was a set of slowly revolving spiral stairs. There was something disturbingly hypnotic about it, and even more disturbing was that revolving the spiral ought not to take you anywhere.
'You better hurry, it's getting late,' said Snape.
Thanial rather nervously stepped onto the spiral, and found himself, for some reason that his brain couldn't seem to visualize at all, moving upwards.
The gargoyle thudded back into place behind him, and the spiral stairs kept turning and Thanial kept being higher up, and after a rather dizzying time, Thanial found himself in front of an oak door with a brass griffin knocker.
Thanial reached out and turned the doorknob.
The door swung open.
And Thanial saw the most interesting room he'd ever seen in his life.
There were tiny metal mechanisms that whirred or ticked or slowly changed shape or emitted little puffs of smoke. There were dozens of mysterious fluids in dozens of oddly shaped containers, all bubbling, boiling, oozing, changing color, or forming into interesting shapes that vanished half a second after you saw them. There were things that looked like clocks with many hands, inscribed with numbers or in unrecognizable languages. There was a bracelet bearing a lenticular crystal that sparkled with a thousand colors, and a red phoenix perched atop a golden platform, and a wooden cup filled with what looked like blood, and a statue of a falcon encrusted in black enamel. The wall was all hung with pictures of people sleeping, and the Sorting Hat was casually poised on a hatrack that was also holding two umbrellas and three red slippers for left feet. The Sorting Hat... he'd almost forgotten about that first encounter, but that better be left for another time.
In the midst of all the chaos was a clean black oaken desk. Before the desk was an oaken stool. And behind the desk was a well-cushioned throne containing Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, who was adorned with a long silver beard, a pointed white hat, and what looked to Muggle eyes like three layers of pearly-whity bathrobes.
Dumbledore was smiling, and his bright eyes twinkled with a mad intensity.
With some trepidation he didn't show, Thanial seated himself in front of the desk. The door swung shut behind him with a loud thunk.
Thanial remembered Dumbledore's long list of unusual talents, legilimency in particular. On occasions like these, he was glad to know Occlumency, and glad to have his barriers up. Thanial's smile grew chillier, and he regarded the old man who thought he was going to read Thanial's mind.
And then Thanial turned into someone else entirely, someone who had seemed appropriate.
...in the most interesting room of tiny ticking instruments, full of trinkets, full of artifacts, sitting before a desk, facing a smiling old man in silver robes of solid white.
Draco Malfoy regarded the white-robed Headmaster who thought he was going to read the mind of a True Heir of The Noble and Most Ancient House of Malfoy.
To say that Draco Malfoy was confident of the outcome would be an understatement. He had been trained by his father, the most powerful Occlumens from the British Isles and the mere wizard sitting across from him would see precisely what Draco Malfoy wanted him to see...
...the mind of the boy he was currently disguised as, an innocent young scholar and a trusted friend named Barthanial Botts.
'Hello, Barthanial,' said Dumbledore.
'Hello, Headmaster,' Thanial replied. So they were on a first-name basis? Would Dumbledore now say to call him -
'Please, Barthanial!' said Dumbledore. 'Headmaster sounds so formal. Just call me Albus for short.'
'I'll be sure to, Albus,' said Thanial.
There was a slight pause.
'Do you know," said Dumbledore, 'why I requested your presence this here night?'
'Ah...' Thanial said. Draco-pretending-to-be-Thanial tried to control his voice despite the sudden sinking feeling in his stomach. 'I'm sorry, I, ah, Headmaster, I really don't know -'
'Albus, please!' said Dumbledore cheerfully. 'And there's no call to be so worried, I won't launch you out a window in any case. I'll give you plenty of warnings first, if you're doing something wrong! Besides, how were you to know why I invited you.'
He really was mad.
Dumbledore drew forth a small metal case and flipped it open, showing some small yellow lumps. 'Sherbet lemon?' said the Headmaster.
'Er, no thank you, Albus,' said Thanial. Does slipping a student Veritaserum count as hurting them, or does that fall into the category of harmless fun? 'Perhaps, um, winning a duel against Jane Potter had something to do with it?' It was a long shot.
'That is most certainly correct!' Dumbledore said. 'Thankfully no-one got hurt, as we take the rules very seriously here at Hogwarts. But it was just a little remark in regards to that.'
'Ah...' Thanial said. He was aware that his mouth was hanging open - how could the Headmaster already know these things? 'Why did you call me here, then?'
'Why?' Dumbledore repeated. 'Ah, Barthanial, I simply wished to know about Antonio Lestrange, as I got this letter from him some days ago that left me quite dumbfounded to say the least. You were friends I've heard... I'm always saddened to see a noble student drop out, you know.'
Thanial nodded, smiling. 'Yes, I was saddened as well, but I believe he is doing fine though.' Draco-pretending-to-be-Thanial spoke honestly.
There was another slight pause, during which Thanial went on smiling. He was a little apprehensive, actually a lot apprehensive, but once it had become clear that Dumbledore was deliberately messing with him, something within him absolutely refused to sit and take it like a defenseless lump.
'I'm afraid that becoming too cautious has left me with too many responsibilities,' said Dumbledore after the slight pause, 'and yet we ourselves need to be cautious in these times, and so I'm left to inquire.'
'Indeed,' Thanial said with grave solemnity. 'I can assure you that Anton is doing perfectly fine and is currently keeping an apartment in Burghtrix Terrace. If that was all Albus? I need to catch the last carriage for Hogsmeade.'
For a moment Thanial wondered if he'd gone too far, but he did need to catch a carriage at some point(and rather sooner than staying with the Headmaster).
Then Dumbledore chuckled. 'Straight to the point it shall be.' The Headmaster leaned forwards, tilting his pointed white hat and brushing his beard against his desk. 'Barthanial, this afternoon you did something that should have been impossible with transfiguration. Or rather, impossible with only a transmutation. How did those rocks change form, I wonder?'
A jolt of adrenaline shot through Draco-pretending-to-be-Thanial. He'd no clue as to how Thanial had done it, and it clearly hadn't been any normal transfiguration he'd seen. How in Merlin's beard had he done that? The Headmasters eyes pierced him - it was legilimency!
(From deep below his Occlumency-barriers, the real Thanial fed the imagined Draco the needed information.)
'Alchemy' - Draco-pretending-to-Thanial abruptly remembered - It was the scientific technique of understanding the structure of matter, decomposing it, and then reconstructing it. If performed skillfully, it was even possible to create gold out of lead. However, as it was a science, there were some natural principles in place. Only one thing could be created from something else of a certain mass.
'Alchemy,' Dumbledore went on, 'Using the Principle of Equivalent Exchange is not easily done Barthanial.'
The Headmaster fell for it, but Thanial's upper body had tensely firmed up. 'I've practiced for a long time Albus.'
'You couldn't possibly get at that level without a mentor?' Dumbledore smiled conspiratorially. 'Am I on the right track so far, Barthanial?'
Draco-pretending-to-be-Thanial was frozen. He had the feeling that an outright lie would not at all be wise, and possibly not the least bit helpful when the Headmaster used legilimency, and he couldn't think of anything else to say.
Dumbledore waved a friendly hand. 'Don't worry, Barthanial, you haven't done anything wrong. Alchemy isn't against the rules - I suppose it's rare enough that no one ever got around to putting it on the list. But really I was wondering something else entirely.'
'Oh?' Thanial said in the most normal voice he could manage.
Dumbledore's eyes shone with enthusiasm. 'You see, Barthanial, after you've been through a few adventures you tend to catch the hang of these things. You start to see the pattern, hear the rhythm of the world. You begin to harbor suspicions before the moment of revelation. You are an Alchemist, and somehow won a duel with our great savior of our magical Britain using wandless transmutation. She is among the top students and a witch of extraordinary talents - not even considering her birthcraft - as are you, I now see. And so I cannot help but wonder if by some strange chance you have apprenticed not under a great Alchemist, but thée Great Alchemist, the immortal and never-changing Nicolas Flamel, my former college and reputed creator of the Philosopher's Stone.' Dumbledore's gaze was bright and eager. 'Am I correct, Barthanial?'
Draco-pretending-to-be-Thanial swallowed. There was a full flood of adrenaline in his system now and it was entirely useless, this was the most powerful wizard in the world and there was no way he could make it out the door and there was nowhere in Hogwarts for him to hide if he did, he didn't know anything about an apprenticeship under Flamel - this whole scene was absurd. The bright light had gone out of his eyes, and he looked puzzled and a little angry. 'And so it is,' said Dumbledore, 'you don't have to answer Barthanial, I can see that you didn't.'
Thanial fixed a smile. 'Correct Albus, I didn't, and now I would very much like to catch the carriage.' He got up and made a small bow. 'I can assure you that Anton is perfectly fine, and I do have some homework that can't write itself.'
There was the sound behind him of a door opening.
'It was great to finally meet you in person Barthanial,' Dumbledore said, 'but it'll do you good to remember Jane Potter as the hero she is and show her some honor in the future.'
'I certainly will.' Draco-pretending-to-be-Thanial turned, took a step towards the open door and then he was racing down the spiral stairs even as they turned, his feet almost stumbling over themselves, in just a moment he was at the bottom and the gargoyle was walking aside and Thanial fired out of the stairwell like a cannonball. He could finally drop his Occlumency-barriers completely.
As if he'd dived and finally reached the surface after minutes under water; He breathed heavily and in long intakes.
The Headmaster was smarter than he initially had thought - not just more smart, but more powerfull and even more mad!