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.
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Word Count:: 3,408
[September 10, 1994 :: William Sottero's Classroom, Altair Institute of Magic]
Hermione watched as Ron yawned widely, tired from the late night Astronomy class they had the night previous. She was tired of all of the lies the teachers here had been telling her. Everything they were saying contradicted with what the Hogwarts teachers had said! It bothered her especially because the Hogwarts teachers had been really smart, and Professor McGonagall had known what she was talking about when she taught Transfiguration. There was no way that everything she had taught them was wrong.
No matter what Professor Powell said, Hermione knew there were strict, unbreakable rules in Transfiguration. She would just have to order the books from Hogwarts, maybe even ask some of the teachers to send her lists of essays to write so that she knew what was really important. This was her O.W.L year too! Sure, the Ministry might have given exemptions (and suggested that the Altair professors could give them a predicted score, something Hermione would insist on the teachers doing) but O.W.L levels were important!
Hermione's mother had been terribly concerned about her going to a school like this after reading the list of species that could be there. Hermione had only barely managed to convince her, and there was no way her mum would be happy to realize that Hermione backed out of the opportunity so quickly.
But now it was time for their Culture and Customs class, and the teacher wasn't even there! Teachers were never late at Hogwarts, really what was this school?
…
Only moments after Hermione had that thought, the side door to the Professor's office slammed open, hitting the wall with a loud bang that had most of the class jumping in their seats, Justin slamming his knee into the table and groaning faintly in pain. He glowered at them, arms crossing when he stopped at the front of the class. He pinned all of them with a very angry stare, looking from student to student as if assessing their value, or more likely use to him.
"I am William Sottero, a wereboar. Yes, those exist. Your first lesson is going to be about the werefolk. The job of making sure you don't offend someone drastically has been, unfortunately, relegated to me. I will make something perfectly clear. I don't like you. I want to be teaching blood magic, but no, the parasite of a headmaster has deemed it necessary for me to take a year to teach a throng of" he cuts himself off, gesturing angrily at the assembled Hogwarts students, "you."
Sottero stalks around the classroom for a few moments, something that Blaise couldn't help but think did not fit the qualities of a boar, looming rather ominously behind random students and peering down at them with narrowed eyes before going back to the front of the classroom, leaning against the desk in the front.
"As they are the most prominent, have any of you met a werewolf? Other than Ugil, of course." he asked, eyebrow raising slightly as the whole class raised their hands. Hermione took it upon herself to explain, blurting out that Remus Lupin had been their Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher in third year.
"His name's Remus Lupin? What a fitting name for a wolf," Sottero said dryly, "he use Wolfsbane? How old was he?"
Callisto raised her hand, plainly saying that he was around thirty-five, and yes, "He used Wolfsbane when he was teaching, but he usually just, well, locked himself up on the full moon. He forgot Wolfsbane once, though, which ended up with him attacking a group of students who had been out. He doesn't regularly use Wolfsbane because he has someone to shift with him."
"Only two wolves? That's rare." Sottero began, pausing when Callisto shook her head "He shifts with an animagus," Callisto explained, "He had three other people that he shifted with from thirteen-ish until he was twenty-three or so, but he lost all of them until just a two years ago."
Sottero grimaced, "That's really not a good example of werewolf dynamic. Wolves and werefolk in general need a social group that is best if it's composed of other weres. The smallest proper pack is around six people, and the largest pack in the world runs somewhere in the mid-north of the United States at around a hundred and thirty people, and that's a rare case. Usually packs are between thirty and sixty people strong. All but two weres here at Altair run together on moons in the valley, which is about thirty people.
"Werefolk are very social beings, and oftentimes there are cliques inside of a pack of four or five weres that are very, very close to each other and who typically care very deeply for one another. If that clique is lost somehow, the surviving were usually ends up depressed and unstable and has to be adopted into another clique and showered with social attention from the rest of the pack. It seems to me as if Lupin's clique was lost, and that likely made him very unstable. Was his wolf form rather distorted?" At their nods, Sottero sighed. Apparently, though he didn't seem to care for the students all that much, the idea of another were losing his 'clique' upset him.
"Were forms distort only if the were itself is in emotional turmoil, is rejecting their were, or is dying. Generally, at this point, the were should take Wolfsbane. Wolfsbane potion is only ever used by newly turned weres that are older than thirteen or so and by these unstable weres because the potion limits the emotional connection between the person and beat, which gives the were better control at the cost of their health. It's not something that is safely taken for extended periods of time." He's quite a moment before turning to Callisto, "Tell Lupin to contact a pack, there's none that are good in Britain, but there's a strong Dutch pack that's near enough. The Alpha there would likely be more than willing to help him sort out his problems."
After her nod of agreement, the wereboar continued on to explain the safer ways to interact with different werefolk and why that type of treatment was important. He only managed to cover that, and the way to interact with animal fae (which were similar but different to werefolk, a comment that Callisto found extremely helpful).
…
[September 10, 1994 :: Evandel Markusson's Classroom, Altair Insititute of Magic]
"A common misconception I've found is that British, and in fact most European witches and wizards, think that they own magic. By that I mean that they have magic inside of them, manipulatable magic that they control. That is not true. Magic is… everywhere. It is in the air we breathe and the water we drink. It is in every animal and human and fae and being that you could name. The difference arises in how much magic is in them." Evandel Markusson said. He was fairly certain this was the first Theory of Magic class to be Altair in all its sordid history, and he couldn't say that he was going to particularly enjoy teaching it, especially as he had to combine Theory and History classes.
The one girl with bushy hair that so far every teacher that had taught the Hogwarts students complained about raised her hand straight in the air, a frown on her face that Evandel simply ignored. "Daemon and fae have by far the most magic inherent in themselves typically species-wide. I, for example, am a water fae, and I inherently am made of more magic than-" hesitating, Evandel glances at the Potter girl, who had very strange magic he wasn't sure he could even call 'her's,' and since it was not, "-any of you here."
"Inherent magic is not actually a measure of one's power, if power is defined as magical might or potency or what have you. Inherent magic, combined with how much magic your body is able to channel makes up magical might. By channeling, I mean using as your own. For instance, after I used up the well of inherent magic within me, I would begin 'channeling' magic from around me, in a way temporarily connecting a sort of aquifer of magic energy to my well of inherent magic and refilling it so that I can continue to use it. There is no one who can continue using magic for an infinite amount of time, as they can only channel so much before exhausting themselves.
"This doesn't mean that the magic in each person is finite, but rather the well of inherent magic and the ability to channel increases over time. The more one works with their magic, the deeper the well grows and so on." Evandel studies the faces of the Hogwarts students and sees that most looked terribly lost, and he sighed, "Let's see if I can't rephrase that somehow…"
…
[September 10, 1994 :: Atrium, Altair Institute of Magic]
"I can't believe this place!" Hermione burst out, arms flying into the air rather irately. Callisto twitched faintly from her place on the ground, sprawled lazily on a flat rock. The group of Hogwarts students were all clumped together, something that had happened inadvertently as they really had no one else to talk to, and Callisto wanted to talk to Luna, Susan and Hannah about how they thought their classes were going. Luna had her head in Callisto's lap, serving further to stick her with the other eleven Brits.
"Those people clearly had no idea what they were talking about!" Hermione complained, "That Sottero completely contradicted what Lupin himself said about being a werewolf! And Markusson! Why would he say that about magic? That's not how Professor McGonagall said it worked!"
"Professor Sottero, and Professor Markusson, Granger, isn't it?" Justin asked in a mimicry of how Hermione would correct them whenever they 'disrespected' a teacher at Hogwarts. Hermione only scowled at him before continuing on, "Why, if we were at Hogwarts, the teachers wouldn't be lying to us!"
Callisto laughed aloud, "If we were at Hogwarts, we would have a ministry appointed Defense teacher who would have exalted the very ground Fudge walked on and made completely idiotic rules. A little birdie told me that she's making 'Ministry Decrees' that are making everyone's lives miserable. She wants to make it a rule that opposite genders have to be at least a foot apart from one another at all times. By far, one of the worst Defense teachers we could have had, not to mention she's horribly prejudiced and has accidentally called people 'mudbloods' three times so far. That's not even mentioning what she's spewing about what she calls 'half-breed filth'."
"That's still better than what we're being taught here! How am I going to take my O.W.L.s?" Hermione cried, voice rather shrill and annoying.
"There's more to life than tests, Granger. I know you think expulsion is a fate worse than death, but I sure don't. Altair's teaching us useful things, not how to turn a mouse into a teacup." Callisto retorted, sitting up and curling her fingers through Luna's hair. Her focus seemed to turn entirely to Luna, as she poked the rather feather-brained witch on the nose. "Whadd''ya say we go get some food Moonbeam?"
Luna beamed up at her, "Can you introduce me to your Serpent friends Azzie? I think they might completely repel nargles!"
…
"§§… Can we join you…?" Callisto hissed to the group of five or so Serpent Folk with some other beings mixed in with the group of Altair students. The only reason Callisto was confident enough to approach them was the presence of Syrul whos coiled tail took up much of the largest rock. They five Serpent Folk had managed to pick out the sunniest spot in the Atrium, and had taken advantage of it by transfiguring large stones. If Callisto had to guess, they had probably also added heating charms to the stones. On second glance though, they looked mostly asleep and unlikely to respond to anything that Callisto asked them.
One of the non-naga students that Callisto guessed was probably fae or daemon propped herself up from her spot laying in the grass nearby and peered at Callisto, frowning slightly. "S'cute yer a Parselmouth, hon, but it's terribly rude to exclude us from yer conversation." she drawled, blinking lazily at Callisto before sitting up and grabbing something from the bag next to her.
"Azzie wanted to ask if we could join you," Luna said, "but she can't control when she speaks Parseltongue."
"That true?" the maybe-fae asked Callisto, grinning when Callisto's only response was to flush in embarrassment. She laughed and reclined again, commenting something to one of the other maybe-faes with her. "Sit down, yer welcome to join us. We ain't parasites, we won't bite."
One of the males nearby who was picking away at some of the food that had been offered for lunch snorted, taking a sip from a goblet Callisto recognized as the ones reserved for vampires. "You might not, but don't speak for all of us." he said. He was just barely shaded by the canopy above the Atrium, though Callisto had figured by now that sunlight only bothered vampires, but didn't disintegrate them.
The two girls sat down anyways, setting their bags full of notebooks and supplies down next to them. Luna immediately turned to the vampire and innocently asked if he had bitten the bird he had gotten the wonderful feathers from. Callisto looked for where the 'feathers' Luna was talking about were, but came up with nothing. The vampire looked at her closely, then grinned as what must have been an illusion faded, leaving him wearing a feather necklace, not unlike the ones Syrul and Silaes had, that laid atop his dark long-sleeve shirt.
"Might have done," the vampire agreed, "what's your name, dear?"
"Luna Lovegood!"
"Well, little Luna, you seem to have a remarkably good sight for someone so little." he commented, "You'd probably be good at reading Tarot. The names Aedifex, Tauriel Aedifex, of the Coven of Makers."
"Pleasure to meet you, Mister Aedifex," Luna responded promptly, nudging Callisto to do the same. "Ah- Nice to meet you, Mister," Callisto said, "Sorry, I apparently always speak Parsel if I'm looking at snakes, or Serpent Folk, apparently." It makes Aedifex and the maybe-fae laugh, and Callisto shifts slightly, smile crooked but still genuine. "Mister," Callisto continues more carefully, "I was wondering why vampires introduced themselves like that. With their family name and the coven they belong to, I mean."
"On a higher scale, as in at a meeting of older coven members or something similar, it serves to indicate whether or not another vampire is worthy of interacting with them. There's a rather touchy hierarchy of who belongs where and what coven ranks higher," Aedifex says, gesturing loosely as if ranking something, "and most every well-taught vampire will know the other covens by name. In that way, you would just call me 'Aedifex,' instead of Mister, until given permission to use Tauriel. It ends up confusing sometimes, as there's another Aedifex around Altair somewhere. You've met Reid Strelem right? There are around three Strelem's here, because the family expanded more than usual around a little more than fifteen years ago. They still count as a little family that the Aedifex technically rank higher than because there are less than two hundred around, but all would be called Strelem unless you had permission to use first names."
Callisto nods, realizing it was probably something like how Draco introduced himself as "Malfoy, Draco Malfoy," and how Sirius recommended she start with 'Potter-Black' if she ever got herself into a formal situation. "Are the Aedifex inventors, then? Or craftspeople?"
"Mostly craftspeople," Aedifex said, "architects and potters and carpenters of exquisite detail and talent. My family designed much of Altair and other elite schools, in fact. There is a carpentry club of sorts that is led by the other one of us here."
"Enough talk," the maybe-fae interrupted, "I'm Angelica O. but y'all oughta call me Angie, and I'm human. May not look it to you though, hon," she looks at Luna seriously, surprising Callisto, "I had a couple of interesting hijinks with some fae my first year here and now my aura's gone all crooked. Anyways, y'all coming to Opening Night later?"
"Sounds fun! What is it?" Luna said excitedly.
"First weekend of every month there's a festival of sorts, where a bunch of different people will make cultural food and there will be lights and dancing and fighting and violence and the sweet smell of Tanya's pies," Aedifex reminisced, smiling blissfully, "smoke so thick it weighs on your chest-"
"It's fun is what it is. Tonight's Opening Night 'cause it's the first one of the year, and a couple'a different groups'll be performing." Angie finished. "It also marks the end of Grace, as the first week ah school there's shouldn' be much fighting and violence, Headmaster dictates. Once midnight passes, I'd bet on at least three dismemberments."
…
[Letter :: Susan Bones to Amelia Bones]
September 10, 1994
Dear Auntie Amelia,
Altair is… wonderful, I suppose. It's terrifying to be here surrounded by hundreds of people with so much talent and ability. Tonight there's a festival of sorts that Azalea suggested we attend some of. She also said we probably shouldn't stay out past 11. We had a lot of time today to just relax and do assigned work, and most of tomorrow's free too. Azalea has a class for two hours, but after that there's only an hour of Physical and later Defensive Magic.
I think I like it here. I know my last letter was far more wishy-washy on whether or not I was enjoying myself here, but I definitely do. It's brilliant. Sure, I'm not certain about the different beings and how loose everything is about the darker side of magic, but it's so… it's so beautiful here. I'm learning so much every day, it's totally unlike Hogwarts.
Hannah's having the time of her life with the medimagic classes, and she managed to weasel her way into a Healing class that she's at while I write this. Apparently there are a bunch of extra classes that are entirely invitation-only, but I don't think anyone but Hannah and Azalea have those. Luna found a group of fae and something called 'Sighted' humans that understand all of her mumblings about nargles and whatnot. Apparently she can see a lot of things that most humans can't see, so they're teaching her how to manage that.
I've never seen Azalea mother-hen so much as when Luna went off on her own with them. The fae looked rather like they appreciated the concern she was showing towards Luna, or at least more so than they were upset about not being trusted. Azalea's the most comfortable here, more so than even Luna is. I really wouldn't be surprised if she tried to switch schools here. She certainly is enjoying it enough, and seems to have a knack for making friends with other beings, at least a lot faster than she ever made friends with me or anyone else at Hogwarts.
I always thought she was shy, but I don't think that's the problem. How are you, auntie? Has the DMLE wrapped everything up with the end of the Death Eaters yet? Keep me updated!
Love,
your Susan
…
[Letter :: Fred and George Weasley to Callisto Potter]
September 10, 1994
Dearest Azalea,
We appreciate the investment into WWW. Thanks for the Stealth Magic book, it seems very interesting. Georgie has more of a knack for it than I do, so he's going to learn it and do his best to teach me.
You have a very wicked mind, little flower. Hexing cutlery? Stones? You really did think things through. Altair's doing something for you at least, it's bringing out your fun side!
You wouldn't know who the prankster challenging us is, would you? They seem to have suspiciously close pranks to some of the ones you sent in your list. Freddie suspects you, but I think you likely got one of your minions to do it. Might they be the same as your little birdie?
Mischief Managed,
Gred and Forge Weasley
…
A/N
:) ?
