Snapshots and Thundersnow
Chapter 1: The Shock Mage

"Well, maybe this one. Hemlock and phoenix feather, fifteen and a half inches, quite flexible... good for... hmm? Very interesting... if it chooses you... very interesting indeed..."
Theo sat alone on the train, as usual, brooding, which was not so usual. Well, that depended on one's definition of 'brooding' didn't it? He was always sitting there staring out the window and looking unapproachable, so other people might think he was brooding, only now he was actually in a bad mood, so he actually was brooding...

He kicked the semantic debate out of his head. His mind was wandering. That was normal too, and annoying. It wasn't helping his current situation in the least. So he kept his attention on the countryside rushing by the window, trying to avoid thinking of—

"Hey Nott."

Damn. "Malfoy?" He tried to sound vaguely interested, which was difficult. He hated being called Nott, and he hated Malfoy's attitude in general. Acting like he owned the world just because he was a Malfoy. Yet, as the simpering twit proved year after year, he couldn't do anything without his pet goons...

Who, incidentally, were flanking him now as Malfoy stood at the entrance to the car. "Get your wand out, Potter's just gone to the toilet," he began.

"I imagine that even being raised by Muggles, he can flush a toilet without our enlightened guidance."

This earned Theo a scowl, which pleased him more than he let on, but the insult to Muggles earned him back whatever favor he'd lost. "When he comes back we're going to have words with him about what he did to our fathers."

"Ah. You've created talking wands, then."

Malfoy's face twisted into a very ugly expression—Crabbe and Goyle always looked ugly. "Or just sit here! We'll do it ourselves."

"Do that." Theo turned back to the window before the others had even left the car. It was kind of sad, really. What did Malfoy think he was going to do? Potter had already survived the Dark Lord... repeatedly. Was he even going to notice a few dimwitted fifth-years attacking him?

He considered the possibilities for a moment, then rose and trailed his fellow Slytherins.

He caught up just in time to see an interesting mix of Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws coming to Potter's defense. When it was over, the three who'd attempted the ambush were wriggling helplessly on the floor and looking rather... oozy.

Theo rolled his eyes and went back to his seat. They'd been asking for that.

He also told himself that he hadn't joined in because he'd known they were asking for it. For all his tough-guy act, Malfoy was only a coward... an average wizard at best... and a disgrace to those loyal to the Dark Lord.

Theo, like Malfoy, would soon be expected to pledge his life and wand to Lord Voldemort. He had no doubt he'd make a much better Death Eater than his classmate. No, his doubts rested elsewhere.

Namely, he wasn't so certain he wanted to be a Death Eater at all. He was already fully contemptuous of his fellow Junior Death Eater Slytherins, why did he want to spend time with them? And didn't he have better things to do with his life than go around slaughtering defenseless Muggles, anyway? What was the point?

He'd been wondering that for a year now. Last summer—after Potter's disappearance in the maze, his return with Diggory's body—when Theo's father had started rushing away at odd times of the day, Disapparating without so much as a warning—Theo had known. His father had said nothing, other than expressing the belief that Potter was a lunatic and the Ministry was quite right for dismissing the stories.

Theo hadn't quite been able to figure out if his father really thought he was fooling anyone. No matter.

His father was a coward as well. Theo had picked up more Dark Arts from the Slytherin common room than from his father... the elder Nott wasn't a terribly impressive Death Eater in any case. He wasn't too impressive at much of anything.

It'd nearly gotten him killed.

It had been an interesting conversation, no doubt. Professor Snape had called Theo in, the day after the battle in the Department of Mysteries when the Dark Lord's return was revealed to the world. Snape wasn't one to break things gently. Theo's father was in St. Mungo's—an elbow and Stunner to the face, a bunch of shelves landing on top of him, and hundreds of glass shards stuck all over his body—and, once treated, would be placed in Azkaban with the rest of the Death Eaters.

Theo snorted derisively thinking about it. His father wasn't as young as he used to be, what did he think he was doing trying to fight?

No, that was unfair, he had no choice. Someone else had pressed Xavier Nott into service. Yet his service had not been enough... for a moment Theo could see it vividly, himself hidden behind his father's cloak... those two frightful words, the flash of green light, the woman falling to the ground...

He ended up falling asleep on the train. Just as well—he didn't much care for the green of the scenery anymore.

"What do you think, Nabu? It's not so bad like this."

Nabu, Theo's sooty owl, just gave a noncommittal hoot and flew back out the window (after dropping off his daily dead rat, which Theo had learned to accept with grace). So much for conversation with local wildlife. He sighed. It wasn't so bad having the run of the house, no...

But it was lonely. Even Theo liked having non-owl company once in awhile, if only to assure himself that human stupidity did still exist.

Ah well. Nothing to be done for it. He flopped onto his bed and looked at the ceiling, which was bewitched to change color according to his mood. (This was a recent idea—the Slytherin dungeon had a way of ruining all his attempts to be cheerful, so at home he had to compensate.) Right now it was a thoroughly boring shade of gray, which told him nothing he didn't already know. Theo rolled his eyes and picked up his wand. "Accio book," he stated carelessly, waving the wand in the general direction of his trunk.

The book that soared into his hand turned out to be one he'd forgotten all about. A Wizard's Guide to Elementalists, by T. R. Oscuro, pressed on him near the end of the year by one Professor Azar. Azar was the Hogwarts teacher of Elemental Magic. Theo suspected most people at Hogwarts had never heard of the class or the professor.

That had been another interesting conversation. He'd somehow expected his career advice session to consist of Snape looking at his grades, saying he'd grow up a fine Death Eater, and ordering him from the office. Heh heh. No doubt that was an unrealistic thought, but it had seemed... fitting.

No, Snape had listened quite impatiently to his declaration that he really wanted to be an Unspeakable, and just as impatiently outlined the requirements. And as Theo had turned to go... well, they'd shaken hands of course. Procedure and all. He'd managed to give the potions master quite a shock when they touched, which had prompted Snape to bring up something else.

"Mr. Nott, before you go, may I ask you how many other people you know who have trouble with static electricity... in the dungeons?"

Which had seemed a very odd thing to say, really. Theo had never thought about it before. But Snape had obviously been planning the conversation all along, pointing out that not only did Theo have apparent issues with static, but Professor Flitwick had noticed his impressive work with Shocking Charms, Professor Trelawney (Snape's nose wrinkled in disgust) mentioned he predicted storms with great accuracy, and Professor Grubbly-Plank had observed his curious interest in the North American Thunderbird.

Theo was still a little embarrassed that he hadn't guessed where this was going. "To put it bluntly, Mr. Nott, although they are somewhat rare, I'm certain you have heard of Elementalists."

He pushed away the flashback—he was getting lost in thought even more often than usual lately—and began to read.

Elementalism is a curious branch of the magical arts, which some claim is of a more primal nature than the common spells in use today. Other experts, however, claim it is a different school entirely, as normal wizards cannot learn elemental spells. While Elementalism, like magic, is a gift one must be born with, wizards born without Elementalism are the norm, while Muggles born with Elementalism are not known to exist. Hence, this book will treat Elementalism as a subject within standard magic.

There are six known schools of Elementalism: fire, water, earth, lightning, wind, and ice. Wizards born with Elementalism are generally proficient with only one school, though on exceptionally rare occasions, two may be present. The last known case of this was Azzurra the Airheaded, a wind/water mage, who died in 1704 after filling her house with water while attempting to air it out.

Theo rolled his eyes and flipped a few chapters back.

Wizards dealing in lightning, one of the most dangerous elements, are generally known as Shock Mages. It is important for the aspiring Shock Mage not to practice his craft without the proper protective clothing, as the forces of lightning are the most difficult to tame.

Like all Elementalists, the first task of a Shock Mage is to create a magical crystal to serve as a focus of his powers. While basic spells can be cast without this gem, it is much more difficult, and the advanced spells will be impossible...

Nabu landed in the windowsill, exceptionally pleased with himself. He'd caught an extra rat! His master would have a very good dinner tonight! He flew in, the rodent dangling from his beak by the tail.

And he gave a hoot that was the owl equivalent of a sigh. Master was asleep, his arms over his head, a book covering his face. He did that so often. Sometimes he didn't even wait for his dinner. Nabu dropped the rat, planted his talons firmly around the book, and with great effort managed to lift it and drop it on Master's chest instead.

What did Master do while he was at school? Nabu didn't go down to the dungeons, but Master carried so many books around at school, surely he fell asleep with them on his face even more often.

Nabu gave a pitying hoot and went back to his hunt. Master could eat the rat when he woke up.