Chapter 5: Halloween, Newspapers, Wands, and The First Spell.

Author's Note: I haven't revised this chapter much so please forgive any mistakes.

Time passed slowly at Hogwarts, or at least it seemed to from Samuel's point of view. The classes were slow, nothing happened, the only high point of his day was playing his guitar for the students at the end of the day. The day before Halloween Samuel was eating breakfast, and the students were telling jokes, and Samuel managed a few himself. He was becoming familiar with wizard humour. Almost no one at the school thought of him as a muggle anymore. He was part of Gryffindor, and no one could argue that. Samuel had become one of the favourite professors, even by students who weren't in his class. He was known in his two months at Hogwarts for always having his office door open, treating students as equals in many respects, his willingness to sign hall passes, and his ability with the guitar, among many other things which the students found favourable. The other professors got along with him well, despite his laid back attitude with the students, and his lack of ability to use magic. His ability to talk to the students, and help them work out their problems convinced Dumbledore and the rest of the staff to allow him to take over some counselling duties during one of his free periods. After a particularly funny joke a few owls flew in a small window at the top of the room. A copy of the Daily Prophet fell in Ron's lap.

"A bit early isn't it?" asked Samuel.

"Looks like a special edition." Said Ron as he unfolded his newspaper. "Whoa! Take a look at this!" he said showing his paper to Harry and Hermione.

"What?" asked Samuel.

"It says here, security at Azkaban was breached three days ago, and several of the death-eaters there escaped, and almost all the dementors left." Said Ron.

"Escaped?" asked Samuel. "You mean broken out?"

"Oh no." said Harry. "He did it."

"Did what?" asked Hermione.

"Voldemort freed his followers, and now has a small army of dementors." Said Samuel. "Obviously."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "What would they do for him?"

"Kill people." Said Samuel. "They're in his army now." He said quietly.

"I'm surprised the Ministry didn't try to keep this quiet." Said Harry.

"I bet they did." Said Ron between mouthfulls. " It said it was three days ago."

Samuel nodded and finished eating quickly then stood up and walked over to Alveron and Professor Flitwick and whispered something to them. The two professors nodded, and walked out with Samuel. The first class session started and the students filed in for Muggle Studies. Five minutes later Samuel briskly walked in and sat his briefcase on his desk. The students stared at him in complete silence.

"What?" he asked.

"You're late." Mary Jenkins said. "You're always 10 minutes early to class."

"I had some business to take care of." Said Samuel with a smile. "Since tomorrow is Halloween, I'd like you all to write me a paragraph or two about some of your customs. Tomorrow morning I'll tell you about some muggle customs we have, it'll be a short class."

The students murmured amongst themselves a moment as Samuel sat down on his desk. A student near the middle raised his hand. "Oh this must be important, I thought I trained you out of raising your hands in here."

"Yes, sir. Some of us saw the Prophet this morning, and well, what do we do? We had dementors here two years ago when Sirius Black escaped and came after Harry Potter. Are they coming back here? We didn't like them at all, scared most of us half to death." The student said amidst murmurs of agreement.

"Oh that." Said Samuel. "The other professors don't think there's any need for concern. One of the best Aurors there is teaches defence against the dark arts here. All the professors are well equipped to deal with whatever problems arise. From what I've read about dementors, there is an extremely small chance they actually do come here, there isn't any need for alarm."

"There were rumors about You-Know-Who coming back last year. I heard it was him that broke them out of Azkaban." Said another student. "Everyone knows he hates Potter."

Samuel folded his arms across his chest and his right eye narrowed slightly. "I don't know who told you that, but it's only theory and speculation. Despite the fact that the death-eaters escaped, and a lot of the dementors followed them, there is no evidence of that."

"There's no evidence to the contrary." Said Mary.

"Quite right Mary." Said Samuel.

"What If they come back after Harry Potter?" asked another student.

"What if the ground outside suddenly opens up and purple globs of jelly with pink dots suddenly spill forth out of the cracks and start dancing and singing the national anthem of Belgium?" asked Samuel. "It will be dealt with. I'm no strategist, but I would think now would be a particularly bad time to strike at Hogwarts. I would advise you to not think about it too hard, it will only cause panic. If you hear anything please tell a professor."

A student started to say something, but thought otherwise when he saw the look on Samuel's face. The class period went slowly, and the next started out pretty much the same.

"The other professors were pretty vague about the dementors in the paper. What do you think about it?" asked a blonde haired girl.

"I think, that you are getting too worked up about these things." Said Samuel. "Some of the most powerful wizards in the world are at this school. I see no reason to be worried."

The third and final class period of the day went about the same. After it was over Samuel packed up his briefcase and headed straight for the teacher's lounge. A few students tried to stop him on his way. He apologized and told them to come to him after classes were over. Samuel threw open the door of the lounge and sat down, loudly slamming his briefcase on one of the tables. The room was almost full with other equally stressed teachers.

"Tough class?" asked a first year Arithmancy teacher.

"You could say that." Said Samuel as he rifled through some papers in his briefcase.

"Must have been bad to get you in a mood like this." The Arithmancy teacher commented. "I don't think I've ever seen you upset."

"They kept asking about the newspaper is all, I was a bit unprepared for that is all." Said Samuel. "As if anyone could be prepared for that."

"Did you tell them not to worry?" asked the stern voice of Professor McGonagall.

"Of course. The rumors may be worse then if the Dark Lord did attack." Said Samuel. "He seems to have an interest here."

"What should we tell them if they keep asking about dementors?" asked one of the professors.

"Why are you asking me?" asked Samuel.

"You're a school Counsellor." The professor said.

"Tell them to talk to their Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor about dementors. Or another professor knowledgeable in that subject." Said Samuel with a shrug.

The professors talked amongst themselves, before heading back out to their next classes. Professor McGonagall sat down across from Samuel as the last of the teachers exited the room.

"That was a very unwise thing to tell them." She said.

"How so?" asked Samuel.

"What if the students take that to mean the dementors really will come here."

"What if they do? It won't matter, any of them that ask already have that in their head. Besides, their Defence teacher will either tell them how to either defend themselves against dementors, or take precautions. He'd do that if they asked him or her about dementors, vampires, red hats, or animated globs of jelly."  Samuel said. "Keeping it quiet is a good strategy, but reinforcing their faith in the professors is even better."

"You know there is a distinct possibility the rumors are true." Said McGonagall.

"I know, I'm prepared." Said Samuel as he pulled back his robes to reveal a long scabbard. McGonagall gasped.

"Is that really necessary?" she asked.

"Probably not, but it's the only way I have to defend myself. Unless you think you could teach me magic, even though Flitwick hasn't been able to." Said Samuel.

"Flitwick is one of our best professors." Said McGonagall. "I might could try to teach you some Transfiguration. It's not the same as charms."

"Alright." Said Samuel as he produced a wand from his robes. The wand was a stiff mahogany rod with a spiral pattern carved around it.

"I've never seen a wand like that, where did you get it?" asked McGonagall.

"I made it, found a book in the library. Found a giant spider in the forest that was more then willing to give me a few hairs and some venom for the core. Well, a few minutes negotiating with the business end of my sword, he was willing."

"That's a very powerful wand." Said McGonagall.

"I'm a muggle, I need all the help I can get."

McGonagall took a marble from her pocket and placed it on the table. "I trust you know how to hold the wand?"

Samuel nodded and watched as McGonagall turned the marble into a small rubber ball, then back into a marble again.

"Very simple." She said. "It only changes the structure, not the size and shape."

Samuel waved his wand over the marble and repeated the words McGonagall said. The professor encouraged him, and showed him several times how to do it. After several tries Samuel laid his wand down and rubbed his forehead.

"It's not working." He said.

"Try again. You've almost got it, I can feel it." She said.

Samuel waved his hand dismissively over the marble and repeated the words. The marble vibrated slightly then floated three inches off the table and it's shape started to distort. McGonagall backed her chair up and stared at the marble in amazement as it turned into rubber then slowly expanded and dropped to the table.

"You did it!" she said. "How??"

Samuel raised his head up and looked at the ball. "I don't know, I didn't even have the wand."

"This is most peculiar." The old witch said, examining the ball. She tried to change it back a few times, but the spells were totally ineffective. "It's as if someone put a spell on it so it would keep it's shape permanently. Can you do that again?"

Samuel looked at the ball and waved his hand and said a few words in latin. Nothing happened the first few time. He then looked at the ball with a look of intense concentration on his face. The ball levitated and distorted like the marble had before, and then began to shrink. The rubber began to look shinier, and noticeably harder as the rubber ball turned into a marble of glass.

"Wow!" said Samuel. "Was that me?"

"Yes." Said McGonagall. "I'd like to know how you did that without a wand."

"I don't know. Do you know anything about Opposites?" asked Samuel.

McGonagall looked Samuel over hard. "That would explain it."

"What?" asked Samuel.

"Opposites, back in the old days they were used to reinforce a wizard's magic. That was back before wands were used extensively. They had an ability to control matter and energy." Said McGonagall. "They told me that the Opposites had all died out."

"Where did you learn that?" asked Samuel.

"Do you know Neville Longbottom?" the old professor asked. "His parents were Aurors. They have a large library full of books on the dark arts, dark wizard catching, and various other related subjects."

"I thought they might, I asked Neville a week or two ago if he'd get his grandmother to send him a list of books in his parent's library. Thought perhaps one of 'em might have some information on Opposites." Said Samuel.

"I can save you some time there." Said McGonagall. "Neville's father let me keep a book I found in their library. It's about the Opposites, and what they did. He considered it a fairy tale."

"You're kidding me." Said Samuel. "Why would you keep a book on that."

"I am certainly not kidding. I was fascinated by it, transfiguration without magic, moving objects with your mind, and a lot of other things. It's helped me come up with a few spells that I find highly useful. Also, watch." She said as she waved her hand at the marble, the marble quickly changed into a small mouse. "I can see and hear through it." She said with a proud smile.

"You did that without a wand." Said Samuel.

"Well yes, that book gave me an idea. I can do some other simple things too without a wand. It took many years practice to do so."

"Does anyone know about that? Can you help me learn more?"

"You, and yes I can." Said McGonagall. The tiny mouse ran scampered out the door. "Oh dear. See if Hermione is outside." Samuel stood up and opened the door and poked his head out of it. He looked around and saw Hermione standing beside the door. With one quick motion he pulled Hermione in and shut the door.

"What was that for??" Hermione asked with a certain amount of indignation in her voice. She looked up and gasped. "It's you Samuel, sorry."

"I tend to overdo things. What's wrong?" asked Samuel.

"My wand broke." She said. Hermione pulled out two pieces of wood and showed them to Samuel. McGonagall stood up and took the wand pieces and examined them.

"What happened?" she asked.

"A first year ran in to me and knocked me over. I fell on my wand at it broke." Hermione said.

"Glad it broke instead of impaling you." Said Samuel.

"How will I ever get another one?" Hermione asked.

"I can send this to Ollivander for repair, he won't have it done for a few weeks though." McGonagall said.

"Try this one." Samuel said as he pulled his wand from his robe. "Give it a wave, careful though it has a very powerful core."

Hermione took the wand and it started glowing in her hand. "It will work for me. Can I test it?" she asked.

Samuel rubbed his chin with a thoughtful look on his face. "We better go outside." He said. The old witch, Samuel and Hermione headed outside into the courtyard. Samuel waved to a few of his students as they crossed the grounds.

"I think we're far enough out." Said Samuel. "There's a large rock over there about twenty yards away, levitate it."

"Mr. Green she's only a fifth year." Minerva said.

"I can do it." Hermione as she pointed her wand at the rock. "Leviosa!"

The rock lifted off the ground and floated higher and higher in the air. Hermione made the rock move around in the air, but it's motions became more and more erratic.

"This wand is strong." Said Hermione. Her forehead was beading over with sweat.


"Alright Hermione, set the rock down." McGonagall said.

"I'm trying." Said Hermione, but the rock kept dancing in air.

"Slowly." Said McGonagall.

"I think it'll take some getting used to." Samuel said.

Suddenly the rock came flying toward them at a very high rate of speed. Samuel threw back his robe as he reached into his pants pocket. Faster then any of them could blink Samuel hurled a small purple ball at the rock. The rock shattered into several smaller pieces and fell harmlessly to the ground. Hermione and McGonagall had thrown themselves to the ground.

"You can get up now." Samuel said, helping the old witch to her feet. Hermione stood up and dusted herself off.

"What kind of wand is this?" she asked.

"Mahogany, it has a core of giant spider venom and a spider hair inside." Said Samuel. "I found a wand making book in the library."

"It has two components for a core? Do you know how dangerous that is?" asked Hermione.

"The book said it was fine to use two components, as long as they both came from the same kind of animal. Spider and scorpion, or Griffin and Hippogriff work well." Said Samuel. "It's just much stronger then a normal wizarding wand."

Hermione stared at the wand in her hand. "I guess I'll just have to be careful and not put so much force into it. How did you know it would choose me?"

"I really didn't I suspect though it would have chose anyone I gave it to." Said Samuel.

"Could you make me one?" asked Professor McGonagall as they started back towards the school. "I've always fancied one that strong. There hasn't been anyone with the ability to successfully make a wand with two components in centuries."

"I sure could. I hope you won't tell anyone about your new wand, Miss Granger." Said Samuel.

"Certainly not. Though it'll be obvious it's new." Said Hermione.

The three found themselves at the doors of the school, and they parted ways. As it happened, the day came to an end with an air of excitement. Halloween was the next day, and that meant the Halloween feast.