Summary: After Callisto Potter defeats Voldemort in the graveyard after the third task, Minister Fudge and Headmaster Dumbledore decide to create an exchange program with the Altair Institute of Magic, a school that caters to all types of magical beings, to "improve" relations with creatures. They just want the Girl-Who-Lived out of their hair. Like all things involving Callisto, everything goes sideways.
Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don't seem to have acquired a massive amount of money recently, so I regret to inform you that I am not J. K. Rowling... Sadly. Ergh, back to being nearly broke~!
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Word Count:: 3,984
[September 5, 1994 :: Aeldyn Solaris' Classroom, Altair Institute of Magic]
Callisto couldn't say if she was glad or worried that this was her very first class at Altair. While she absolutely loved using illusion magic, she was still more than wary about the Altair students. They were all incredibly interesting and diverse… and therein lies the problem. Callisto-no matter what Snape or Petunia would have ever said-was not an idiot dunderhead, and she knew very well that many of the Hogwarts students would just be causing increasingly disastrous problems with everyone in Altair… and that as usual, she would be forced to last minute save and defend them.
Callisto just hoped that if any of the other Hogwarts students shared this class with her they would at least have common sense.
Callisto slipped into the illusion magic classroom at about 6:50, not even bothering to complain at the terrible time. She'd waken earlier with the Dursley's, and it wasn't as if she wasn't totally excited goodmerlinillusionmagic-finallyateacher~!
Yeah. Callisto had been ready for class for almost an hour.
Even seeing Blaise Zabini-someone she'd never even spoken to before-enter the class didn't ruin her excited mood. It didn't even stop when he (somewhat reluctantly) took the seat to her right and offered a polite greeting. It didn't die out when Aeldyn Solaris-the professor and a really (really) old vampire- entered the classroom and made her magic react in the same manner it had to Headmaster Aizaguirre. She was still cheerfully excited when a girl with dark hair and a permanent frown sat down on her left when it was the last seat open and only returned her greeting with an icy glare.
It did start to die out when the student directly in front of her turned around with a raised eyebrow and a disdainful sneer. He glanced between Callisto and Blaise with an unimpressed, contemptuous glare. "I will never be able to understand why little humans-especially students of such a place like Hogwarts would ever think they could perform well in this class." His lip curled to show more than a little sharp teeth, "You'll be gone before the month is out. Honestly, I don't understand why the teachers even let you in."
It disappeared even further as the teacher practically agreed, "While you make a valid point, Mister Maeorin, there is always a chance at finding greatness in anyone. Sometimes greatness is hidden by deceit… by, ah… illusions of weakness."
Some of the students snicker-whether in disbelief or derisiveness-and glance back at the two Hogwarts students. Callisto assumes that they think their greatness is hidden by actual weakness.
("It's not," she wants to protest, "I'm good with illusions-I have power and-" but she knows that it wont go over well. She'd said similar lines to Snape when he was still alive, and all the response he'd ever given was disdain. The best way to prove yourself is to show you can, she remembers someone telling her. Well, Callisto thought, looking at Maeorin's back as he muttered something to the person next to him, I guess I'll just show him I deserve to be here.)
"Aeldyn Solaris," the teacher introduced himself with a wicked grin and a flash of fangs, "One of the founders of the Guild of Illusionists. You are here to be taught how to be the greatest… expect to be taught by the greatest." His eyes travel over the students with a sort of professional curiosity, almost as if he was picking out who he thought would last and who he thought would stay another year.
Callisto only tensed when his eyes passed her over, ignoring the way her magic itched beneath her skin. His eyes were the same shimmering golden shade that Headmaster Aizaguirre had but they seemed to be more metallic. Callisto wondered briefly if it was a trait all old vampires shared or if they were different.
"Illusion Magic." Solaris continued regally, "It is a branch of magic generally considered weaker or less useful by the majority of people. You are unable to physically interact with anything, unable to physically injure someone, incapable of making shields or altering the environment… physically.
"The key word in all of this is physically. You are incapable of doing any of this… physically." Solaris paused and grinned, "Illusion magic is mental. Illusion of sight, the simplest sense to trick, illusion of sound, almost as simple… but then it becomes more difficult. Illusion of smell-there are varieties of smells for the same thing and you have to ensure you are causing the exact one you mean to-or even more difficult, illusion of taste. It is not impossible to cause, difficult, perhaps, but not impossible.
"But none of these hold even a candle to the power of illusion of touch. Illusion of mind. Touch alone can drive someone insane, can make them believe wholeheartedly that they have interacted with any other illusion you may create. You can make a person believe with all of their mind that they are dead-of course, you would need to know how death feels for that to be truly efficient, and none of you have that experience." He pauses again and his eyes travel over the enraptured students.
"Experience. By far one of the most intrinsic pieces of illusion magic. If you do not know what something looks like, how could you hope to replicate it? If you are incapable of remembering the sound of something, how could you ever replicate it?"
"If you wanted to create the illusion of a dragon, you would have to know exactly how they appeared, how the heat of their fire felt in the air. Who of you has ever seen a dragon?"
Callisto glanced at Blaise before both of them raised their hands. They certainly weren't the only ones-Maeorin had raised his hand haughtily, along with two others-a scarred man (vampire! Her magic whispered) that reminded Callisto of both Bill and Charlie Weasley, and pretty girl that reminded her wholly of Fleur and Gabrielle Delacour. Veela, then.
"Who of you five know how their fire feels? Or their claws? Or how they smell or the sound of their roar?" While Blaise and the veela lowered their hands, "Replicate it. To the best of your ability, of course." Solaris sounded almost daring.
Callisto felt her magic jump at the chance, immediately going to the Hungarian Horntail. Yeah, no. Callisto grimaced and brought up the image of Norberta, the young Norwegian Ridgeback from her first year. The space in front of her seat flickered briefly until it shimmered to form the dragon egg. Right- Callisto focuses on the way Norberta had hatched. The egg in front of her cracks, shaking in the way Callisto doubted she would ever forget, the way the egg had smoked and cracked and Norberta's claws as they pried the shell open and her adorable little head with wickedly sharp spines and the way she'd blinked her eyes open and shot a flume of fire straight at Callisto.
It was almost surreal watching her memories be mirrored in front of her as Norberta was formed in flickering illusions upon her desk as the little dragon crawled around in the oddly distinct manner of the Norwegian Ridgeback. Callisto focuses on solidifying the illusion until it looked far closer to reality than Callisto would have expected.
"Well done, Potter, Johannas, Maeorin." Solaris said approvingly. Callisto glanced up at the work of the two other students. Johannas-who she assumed was the vampire-had created a realistic replica of the Chinese Fireball that Viktor Krum had fought, fiery red skin and golden spikes around its snout, yellow-orange eyes and flumes of fire escaping its snout. It was only a little bigger than the model Krum had pulled out of the bag only a lot more furious. The little dragon, however, sounded a lot like the furious roars of the fully grown, enraged dragon Krum had upset. It was a weird combination.
Maeorin, on the other hand, had created a replica of a dragon Callisto had never even heard of described before. It was shimmering purple, with scales that almost looked like feathers and wicked green eyes. It didn't make any noise, however, like Callisto's.
"Potter, Maeorin, attempt to add illusion of sound."
Callisto focused on the weak, half-roars and sniffles Norberta had made, the sound of her claws on Hagrid's table. She was only able to get about halfway-the sounds of her movement were correct, the ruffling of her wings and the clack of claws but her roars? Norberta sounded like a fully-grown, furious Hungarian Horntail. It was hard, Callisto noted, to focus on the sound of a young Norberta when you distinctly remember a Hungarian Horntail trying to eat you. Of course there was also the fact that her magic felt incredibly giddy at the fact Norberta was roaring like a full grown dragon.
At least she did better than Maeorin, whose dragon didn't even sound like a dragon.
"There are various issues with these illusions." Solaris started with Johannas', who was closest to the front. "Johannas did not match sound with size, and there is no sound of the Fireball's interaction with the environment. It's appearance is almost flawless, however, which is impressive.
"Maeorin, who is mirroring the most common Elvish dragon" (So he's an elf, Callisto thought in surprise as Solaris moved to Maeorin's desk in front of her.) "Has the sound of one of the winged cats that the elves are fond of. The appearance is slightly off-this Elvish dragons have no feathers, for example and they have four claws not three.
"Potter," Solaris moved to the front of her desk, "Seems to have mixed up a baby Norwegian Ridgeback with a mothering, defensive Hungarian Horntail. An odd combination. You can hear the dragon's interaction with the wooden table. The biggest issue is the speed and way the dragon was created with the illusions. Generally, you will have too little time to hatch a dragon from an egg-though I am sure you could use it as a party trick-and you want your dragon to be solid in appearance as it is created, not create it and then refine it, which is a process used solely in much larger and complex illusions."
Well then. Callisto thought in surprise, That went better than I thought it would.
…
"Hey Potter!" someone called as they exited the illusion classroom an hour later. It was Johannas, the vampire who'd made the Chinese Fireball dragon.
Callisto let him catch up with her as she and Blaise walked towards their next class-Charms. "Jamie Johannas, of the Johannas Coven for Half-Born."
(Did all vampires introduce themselves that way? Reid Strelem had later introduced himself as "Reid Strelem, of the Strelem Family of Hunters," and Solaris had mentioned his allegiance to the Guild of Illusionists. She'd ask Verrick later)
Johannas nodded as Callisto introduced both herself and Blaise carefully. "I intern at the Amazon Dragon Sanctuary," Johannas elaborates, which was likely why his dragon had been so well built, "We have never had traditional European dragons there-the only reason there was Chinese Fireball was because the poor dragon had gotten lost. I'm curious as to where you saw a Ridgeback and Horntail?"
"Oh, well Norberta…"
(When they reached the Charms class, Callisto referenced Charlie Weasley and suggested they got in contact, because truly he knew more about European dragons, and that maybe she could tell him about the Horntail at a later date?)
…
[September 5, 1994 :: Jonathan Powell's Classroom, Altair Institute of Magic]
"Morning," Jonathan Powell greeted at exactly nine, as a final student (and of course it's Ron Weasley) rushes into the classroom. Callisto was sitting towards the back with Luna and Susan next to her, and Hannah next to Susan. All three had been chattering non-stop about how delightful Muse Magic was (and how utterly incredible Lucciola and Maren, fire and water sprites respectively who taught the class and were "So incredible!")
The class contained all twelve of the Hogwarts students, and another dozen of miscellaneous Altair students-only one of whom Callisto recognized as the girl who had sat next to her in Illusion, who she'd later found out was Sarah Romano, an American girl (human, apparently) whose parents had come from Italy. She wasn't nearly as unapproachable as Callisto had thought, and had a knack at transfiguration and was not very good with charms.
(Maybe, Callisto thought wryly, I can get her help in transfiguration in exchange for help in charms so I don't have to deal with Granger being snide in tutoring. Callisto never did have the same affinity for transfiguration as her father had.)
"Charms; spells that alter an object without changing its nature. Summoning, banishing, animation, sound, and what have you. To start off, we are going to go through all of the charms you know, and then talk with the people who sit next to you to find out the charms they know that you might not, and then with other students around the class. I'll give you, say 30 minutes, to figure out as many Charms as you can, as well as what they do. The rest of the first class will be spent making sure you actually know how to perform them."
Callisto pulled out a notebook (and how thankful she was when she realized Altair didn't require you to use quills and parchment) and started scribbling down all of the charms she remembered learning and their variations. Lumos (Solem, Maximus), Wingardium Leviosa, Leviosa (to levitate something, though it took more magic than Wingardium Leviosa), Aguamenti, Animus, Accio, Proello (to banish something), Tintinabula (that charm Susan had used to make a sound like a chime), Eximo (which was used to untie knots and remove bindings), Ossigeno Maschile (the bubble-head charm, something she'd learned after the second task), Tingol (which, added to the name of a color in Latin, became a nifty color changing charm), Hilaritem (the cheering charm)
Callisto was somewhat disappointed to realize she only really knew twelve charms, and turned to her companions and the other students for more ideas. (30 minutes later, Callisto had learned almost half a dozen new spells she wasn't entirely sure she could perform, but was excited to know.)
…
"As most of you are able to perform the spells you have down, we'll start, very briefly, on unspoken and wandless magic and its use in charms. Generally, every charm is able to be performed silently, and most you can perform wandlessly. Unspoken is generally easier-you think of the spell, for now I'll show summoning, so Accio, and then you focus on your magic and your intention through your wand and you, for lack of a better word, pull."
Professor Powell pointed his wand at a mug on the other side of the room and without even a noise he flicked his wand and the mug flung itself into his hand with a loud smack!. "Obviously, speed and force are difficult to control with the use of unspoken magic. It takes much more effort to regulate them, and even more so wandlessly. Obviously," and here Powell sent the mug back to its spot with a wave of his wand and then set his wand on his desk and held out a hand. "It is possible to modify them." The mug sped halfway towards him before slowing down and floating leisurely over to his open hand.
"After you learn a spell vocally and with your focus, you should always, always figure out how to perform it at least unspoken and to try to make it wandless."
…
[September 5, 1994 :: Atrium, Altair Institute of Magic]
"So, Azzie, how was illusion magic?" Susan asked as all of the Hogwarts students sat together, most sitting at one of the large circular tables while the others sat on the grass and rocks around them. Callisto was sprawled on a rock leaning against one of the tall columns (one of the few places with sun in their area), already exhausted from the two classes they had. Callisto was glad she only had one more class that day-even though it was "Physical Combat and Exercise."
"Interesting. I didn't realize that what I used to do was a mix of charms, transfiguration and illusion magic, which was what made it so easy. They were efficient… sort of. They took far more magic than I probably needed to use and basically sort of transfigured air and animated it? I'm not entirely sure what I was doing, but actual, far more realistic Illusion Magic is more sturdy and reliable, and it would have taken less time and magic to do." Callisto explained.
"Basically, I was doing it so wrong that it could have been detrimental to my magic and education if I kept going, so I learned a lot."
…
"No, Susan, Hannah, I still don't want to transfer to Muse Magic!"
…
"I didn't realize how kind of easy it was to do unspoken and wandless magic." Callisto said wryly, "I mean it's certainly not easy, but I already figured out Lumos and the levitation charm unspoken and wandless, though I suppose it helps that I understand both of the charms fairly well."
"It's easiest to do wandless but spoken." Luna says airily, "Then the Nargles can't infect your wand."
"I'm sure, Moonbeam," Callisto murmurs, "You know what the illusion magic 'homework' is? Observe and listen. It's good homework, I suppose, nice and easy. I'm glad it's one of the classes we have twice a week."
"I'm excited for Nature Magic tomorrow." Susan says instead of complaining on how easy that is compared to the Muse Magic homework (basically; practice practice practice). "I mean, that has to be one of the coolest classes they have here!"
"Don't forget we also have potions tomorrow, though I doubt it could be nearly as bad as potions with-" Hannah broke off as she remembered the fact that their professor had died. She may not have liked the guy (and even though she didn't blame Callisto for his death) she didn't really think Professor Snape had deserved to die. It might have been a minority opinion in Hogwarts, though.
…
"Hey, Potter." came a smooth voice as someone approached their little group. Callisto only glanced up before returning to the intense game of Exploding Snap she was playing with Susan, Hannah and Luna.
"Johannas," Callisto greeted, leaning back as one of the cards exploded and glancing up at the vampire.
"You said you'd tell me how you saw a Horntail?"
"I think saw is a bit of an understatement." Callisto says after a moment, handing her cards to Luna and facing the interested vampire. "See, it started with the Triwizard Tournament…"
…
[September 5, 1994 :: Dueling Platforms, Altair Institute of Magic]
"Headmistress Mercuriel rather graciously put the lot of you Hogwarts students in the Physical Defense class, saying something about not wanting you all to break or something." the teacher said cooly-he'd introduced himself as Nicholas Warner, an incubus. He had rather ordinary brown hair, but it was paired with some of the most vibrant, nearly aquamarine eyes Callisto had seen. His aura reminded Callisto slightly of that of Fleur's (though his was about four times as powerful and was affecting her just a little more.) "Any of you have experience with physically exercising?"
Callisto, Luna, Terry, Justin and Draco were the only to raise their hands. Draco apparently considered Quidditch something physically exerting. (While it was what Callisto was counting, she greatly doubted that Malfoy and the Slytherin team had actually practiced that much, choosing rather to cheat. Oliver Wood had been an evil taskmaster, though, and had rather brutally made them run laps every practice along with various other incredibly uncomfortable exercises Callisto wouldn't forget any time soon.)
"That's pathetic." Warner said, sounding disgusted, though it didn't really make him look at all worse. If anything, it made Callisto want to prove herself to the rather handsome incubus. "It's no wonder few of you actually made it on time." His eyes narrowed, and he pointed to the opposite end of the long track of dueling platforms, split in the center by a long pathway. The far end was up a hill (though not a steep one) and a good ways away. "Run there and back three times. Last four students back are being used as target practice. Now go!"
Go they went.
…
To really no one's surprise, Daphne, Draco, Hermione (who had never really run far in her life, even in primary school) and Ron were the last four. Warner made them run a fourth time while making the other students stretch out and get started on exercises.
It was painful, tiring and something Callisto never really wanted to do again. Then she remembered she had it five days of the week. Damn.
…
Callisto didn't really think of Warner as either 'pretty' or 'handsome' after that, rather describing him mentally as 'fucking evil' and 'probably a jerk'.
…
[September 5, 1994 :: Nuala Sikkel's Classroom, Altair Institute of Magic]
"Nuala Sikkel" Nuala introduced herself. "Fire daemon."
Nuala Sikkel, the "Introduction to Blood Magic" teacher eyed the newest students- especially the trio of Hogwarts students, Terry Boot, Draco Malfoy and Blaise Zabini -with the same sort of intrigued hunger she had every student before them. Nuala prided herself on being one of the most feared daemon's on campus. Students made sure they were never on their own with her, and made doubly sure that they never really upset her, lest she roast them (likely alive) and feed them to her-in Nuala's opinion-adorable draken.
It was one of the reasons Aizaguirre had appointed her as the Introduction to Blood Magic teacher. If the students survived and were still determinedly in the class at the end of the year with her, they would probably do incredibly well in the more advanced and intrinsic Blood Magic classes later on.
Nuala was a good teacher, and she was decently fair and would usually help her students, and she was a brilliant introductory teacher. She knew what she was talking about, and had a rather wicked flare for scaring off students.
"Blood magic." Nuala starts, like she had every year before, "is a type of magic employing one's blood as a channel for their magic. The majority of a person's magic is contained in their blood, rather than their skin or bones, and so can be accessed using rather specific techniques. Blood magic is something that enhances abilities already present rather than creating new ones by drawing runic patterns on ones body to channel and amplify abilities that are there."
Nuala's eyes traveled over the students, assessing the class of twenty, "Because of the necessity to quite literally carve runes into your skin, this is one of the most dangerous and failed classes in all of history. You have to have a predisposition to both dealing with pain and not being queasy, because both of those things would be very, very bad to not have when you are carving into your skin."
Some of the students-likely those who had relatives or affinities for blood magic-snickered softly. "If you are a vampire," Nuala continued after they silenced, "You will likely do better, but it does mean you have to be a little more careful about who you drink from. If you upset the balance of magic in your blood it could throw off your rune sets completely, which would likely kill you."
"Only about maybe a quarter of this class-five of you-will make it do the next year of blood magic. Maybe half of you will quit, and the other quarter will end up very dead."
Nuala grinned wickedly, the smile making her seem all the more dangerous, "It's going to be a fun, fun year at Altair."
…
Well… yeah….
So this is totally not like two weeks later than it should be (or whatever I honestly don't remember). I SWEAR I MEANT TO UPDATE SOONER! I just…. didn't . It took me a really long time to figure out how to write this chapter for some reason, so there's that. Also I'm apparently just really lazy over break, but hey! This was a long chapter!
So sorry about that.
The next few (or more than few) are honestly just going to be a week of classes at Altair before I really get moving-partially to introduce characters and new ideas and partially so I can figure out what exactly I'm going to introduce first. I'll try my best to actually write….
Yeah….
Ta~!