Word Count: 2,661

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What Might Be Called Structure

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[September 3, 1994: Classroom 120, N. Lower Hall, Altair Institute of Magic]

Jonathan Powell did not like the new students.

Not — and it was important to clarify — not the newest Altair students. No. The Hogwarts students that Riveren had decided to let in for some bullshit reason Jonathan had chalked up to for the purpose of amusement. For all that Alith defended their decision, Jonathan just… didn't care. Sure, he'd acknowledge along with all the other teachers at Altair that there was something more to their decision, but it was really feeling like it was to amuse themselves.

Honestly, Jonathan wouldn't be surprised if Ircoriel had something to do with it. The old vampire had been meddling more often than he tended to, and Jonathan really couldn't believe that Riveren would have made the decision to let Hogwarts students in independently. For all the incentives offered by a dozen different schools, Riveren had never, not once, allowed outside students to attend full years at Altair.

ATLAS students, who were welcomed for Seminars and Symposiums and Special Events never attended full years unless they transferred. The weird outlier students — Idalia, for instance, was an old earth fae who'd attended a decade or so back had been six-hundred when she'd started — still weren't non-Altair students attending Altair.

Worse than that was that Alith had decided he was the best fit to give the Hogwarts students an introduction to Altair. Jonathan knew why — he'd grown up in a traditional British pureblood household until he was ten, when his parents died and he was sent to live with his uncle in America, attending Ilvermorny until he transferred to Altair at sixteen — but that didn't mean he liked it. Or that he'd be friendly.

Jonathan was 'normal,' after all, not friendly. At least, normal by the dubious definitions of Altair. He'd taken less extreme subjects and had settled easily into the world 'outside' after he graduated. He'd gotten married to a nice human woman, had two human children, got divorced… and then remarried. His second wife was a teacher at Altair, and gods was she wonderful, even if she'd dragged him head first back into the world of crazy that was Altair, and after a few months of marriage he'd applied to work at his old school.

Jonathan, despite the constant chaos, didn't think he'd ever regret it. 70% of the staff meetings he'd ever attended ended in fights (fistfights, on three glorious occasions). Students had somehow managed to permanently disfigure themselves during six different lectures, where they didn't even use magic. He'd gone to four festivals that ended in explosions and no fewer than 12 dinners that ended in attempted murder.

There wasn't a single day Jonathan didn't love it at Altair. He had his lovely wife — though they spent nights outside Altair, with Jonathan's children by his ex — and several lifelong friends. He'd known in his first month as a student that he loved nothing more than the diversity of people and magic and power at Altair.

If he had one word to describe Altair, it would, and it would always be 'breathtaking.' Because, for all that there were niches of psychotic little sadists and worse… It was Altair.

And now, watching the Hogwarts students wander in with wandering eyes and trembling hands, Jonathan wondered for the first time if he'd have been better off not there.

…

"Right, then," the teacher they'd been led to by the Altair students began after they'd all found seats in the classroom. He took a moment to glance at the lingering Altair students, gesturing for them to go with a flick of his fingers.

"Someone'll show up to take you to your dorms afterwards," he said. In Hannah's inexperience, she was pretty sure the guy was human, but she honestly wasn't sure. He seemed decent enough though, tall and blonde and leaning his back against the tall chalkboard behind his desk. He was looking around their group calculatingly, though he didn't say anything for a time.

"I'm not sure if Alith took the time to introduce me, so I'll take a moment to. I'm Professor Jonathan Powell, and I teach lower level Charms and Transfiguration." Professor Powell said, pushing himself from the wall to walk around the front of the class. He reminded Hannah a bit of Professor Snape and Professor McGonagall combined.

"I'm here to explain the very basics of how class works at Altair — something you should have taken the time to learn before. But you didn't, and here I am. I'm also here to supervise you choosing your classes." Professor Powell explained, "By the time we're done, I expect that Alith will have chosen your mentors — divided among your clever little Hogwarts houses, I believe. I do believe that they'll come to take you to your dorms. If not…" he trailed off with a shrug. "Not my business."

He looked around the group again, forehead furrowing as he counted the students. "Is one of you missing?"

"Callisto Potter," Hermione answered immediately, "Professor Mercuriel had something to talk to her about—"

"Ah." Professor Powell held his hand out in a warning for her to stop. "One; it's Headmistress Mercuriel, and two; I don't actually care where she is. Either she's here, or she's not. She is not. The end."

"But, Professor Powell, sir—" Hermione interrupted, only to be cut off by another raised hand.

"It has no impact on me whether or not Miss Potter ends up with a schedule at the end of the day," he replied. "Now, onto important things," he glared at Hermione. Hannah thought it was a little undeserved, given that Hermione has just been worrying about a friend.

"You should all — hopefully — know by now that you're required to take several courses. Culture and Customs and Theory of Magic have been specially introduced for you, they're each a half-semester long. I believe that you're beginning with Culture and Customs, though I'm not certain. In addition to those, you've been required to take Medimagic, Basic Runes, Charms, Potions, and Physical Combat, as well as three additional classes this year. I will restate that: this year. Don't take them all this semester—" his explanation paused as he studied the obviously confused expressions. "None of you know how a year here works." he said tiredly.

"Fine, then. To explain, the Altair school year works a little like this:

"It's divided into four parts: fall semester, winter break, spring semester, and summer break. Each semester is twelve weeks, with two additional weeks at the end for students to showcase the projects they've completed and for celebrations. Each break is also twelve weeks, with three weeks on each end dedicated solely to break, and six weeks in the middle for what are called six-week 'seminar' classes, often specialization courses, many of which are open to any student in Altair, as well as students and associates at Altair's sister schools, or rather ATLAS.

"Courses, most frequently, only last one semester. The Charms I class you are all required to take with me is one of those. For the first semester, we have class; that means lectures, lessons, discussions, et-cetera. At the end of that semester, I will assign you the Charms I final project. You then have all of winter break and the second semester to complete it, before presenting it in the two week Summer Student Showcase.

"As it happens, my other Charms I class happens during semester two. That means, while you are working on your Charms I project, you can —if you need to— join the other class for a lecture or discussion, on top of coming in for office hours or other help. For each of your projects, you are expected —though not required— to meet with the Professor of that class either over break, or during the semester, for help and as a project check-in.

"As I do every year, I recommend all of you to complete the majority of your project over winter break, despite knowing that will never happen." He paused, looked over the semi-attentive students, and grimaced. "The majority of your classes work like this."

"The only exceptions are the Necromancy and Blood Magic classes, as they are incredibly dangerous and require continuous teaching, and the Shamanic Magic and Alchemy classes, as they deal with rituals and magic that is more successfully performed during certain parts of the year. All four of these classes have two final projects, one completed over winter break, the other over summer break. Astronomy is also a class students take year round, but as those classes really only occur one night a week, and as it has no projects, it matters less.

"Additionally, you —the Hogwarts students specifically— are being required to take a Culture and Customs and Theory of Magic course. These, though they've never actually existed before, are going to be brief, 6 week classes. You will have Culture and Customs the first half of semester one, and Theory of Magic the second half."

Professor Powell took a deep breath, looking over at the students he wasn't sure caught any of that, and sighed. "Make sense?" He paused and looked around the room. Hannah noticed Hermione with her hand waving in the air. Professor Powell looked past her.

Hannah really wished she'd brought a notebook then. No one had, and no one looked quite like they understood everything the professor had just said. It was obviously different from Hogwarts in really obvious ways… but not having exams? Having projects instead? That… actually sounded really cool to Hannah. She'd never done well on her tests (and was terribly glad she got to skip the O.W.L.s this year) but she'd done an okay job on the few projects they'd been given.

"Sir," Hermione blurted, "How many classes can we take? What classes are there?"

"I'm getting there, Miss Granger." Professor Powell said tonelessly. "But briefly; there are a lot of classes available. Many of the magic-specific or later year courses have prerequisites — I will be giving you a long list of all the classes you can theoretically join later. What isn't offered to you, because we don't teach the beginner-level classes here, are a lot of the politics, philosophy, communication, sociology…. Basically, many of the non-magical classes aren't available to you because you don't have the basis needed to start. To answer how many classes you can take…"

He shrugged and paused for a moment, "Theoretically, you can take as many classes as you can fit into your schedule. I don't recommend it, but you could. None of you are used to the rigor and pacing of classes at Altair. First semester, you have five required classes. The workload from those alone is far from insignificant. I wouldn't suggest taking more than one or two additional classes, if you decide to take any at all. You will end up overwhelmed, and while you can drop classes so long as you keep four minimum, it tends to be 'not the done thing.' Keep that in mind when you're choosing what classes to take."

Hermione's hand shot up again, and Professor Powell sighed before gesturing for her to talk. "What classes will prepare us for the O.W.L.s?"

The professor blinked and massaged his brow with one hand. He was quiet for a very long moment before sighing, "Did you read nothing about Altair? About schools outside of Hogwarts?" he asked rhetorically, waving dismissively as Hermione started to answer, "O.W.L.s aren't a measure of proficiency used anywhere but Magical Britain. What classes here work towards are masteries and proficiency certificates. Masteries are determined in a number of different ways, and aren't something that you would need to worry about for another five years if you were Altair students. Which you aren't."

"But we need to take our O.W.L.s!" Hermione protested loudly, looking ready to rant. Susan did her best to hush her, even as Professor Powell rolled his eyes and ignored her, looking expectantly over the other students.

"I will repeat this one more time— the tests you are talking about do not exist outside of Britain. None of your classes here will prepare you for them, because they don't exist. I don't even know what is on the O.W.L. tests, let alone have any plans to switch up my curriculum," Professor Powell said coolly. "If you want to study for them in your own time, feel free. Do I recommend it? No, once again; you'll overwork yourself and likely not have enough time to complete assignments in your actual assigned classes. I presume that the basic curriculum tested with the O.W.L.s overlaps with curriculum taught here, but we have very different approaches, and it's entirely possible the spells taught here and at Hogwarts vary slightly."

"We're going to learn different spells?" Ron was the one to speak out of turn this time, and Susan couldn't help her sigh.

"Possibly," Professor Powell emphasized. "Any other questions? No— ah."

"How can we tell what is teaching our classes?" Zachariah asked. Professor Powell looked at him blankly for a long moment before he scowled.

"Who is teaching your classes. Don't be too worried about being taught by someone who isn't human," Professor Powell sneered at Zachariah, tone mocking. "You'll be pleased to know that many of your classes are taught by non-human teachers. Markusson, your Theory of Magic professor, is water fae; Chloelle Girard, the medimagic teacher, is veela; Malowitz, your potions professor, is a werewolf. Warner is an incubus. I wouldn't expect much difference in how you're taught as a result of whether or not your teacher is human, although I would suggest being cautious and respectful regardless."

"How are we being placed in classes?" Susan piped up, diverting the subject.

"Ordinarily, it would be by skill level, but as our skill testing period has run out, you will all be placed in the first level class. If your professor notes a particular skill and ability, they'll likely suggest moving you up a level," the charms professor explained.

"What about extracurriculars?" Hannah asked.

"There are many student organized classes and clubs. Often towards the beginning of the year there is a weekend where every club sets up a booth to recruit."

"Tutoring?"

"Not directly organized by Altair, although there is a student-made department to help facilitate students finding peer tutors. In my time here, I frequently paid other students with favors and crafted goods to receive tutoring. Don't expect it for free," Professor Powell leaned back on his desk, folding his hands in front of him and waiting for any additional questions.

"Are there any restrictions for classes we can take? Elective-wise, I mean," Susan clarified.

"Not regulated, although I generally recommend reconsidering if you plan to take multiple very complicated electives that are very different from each other," Professor Powell offered. "For instance, taking Metal Magic, as well as Muse and Mind Magics can become overwhelming, as all three deal in very different aspects of magic. On the other hand, Blood Magic and Necromancy —both full year classes as I said earlier— are frequently taken concurrently, as they deal with the same type of magic and are less likely to be overwhelming."

He waited calmly for any other questions, and when none came tapped the stack of papers at his side, making them float until each of the Hogwarts students had one. "Take some time to look over the offered classes," Professor Powell suggested. "Write down the one or two you want to take. I will do my best to explain any specifics, although I am not an expert on each and every class. Be mindful of the classes you choose, and don't get overconfident in your abilities. The burnout you will suffer is not worth it."

…

a/n: Random Monday Update! Oops… This is maybe 2 ½ weeks later than I meant it to be… and I was only 500 words off finishing it when I posted the last chapter. My brain has just been… not in the mood for writing this. But I apologize anyway for not sticking to my schedule. We'll see, the next update will probably actually be on a Friday, maybe next week or the week after… Hopefully soon. I'm forcibly pulling myself out of a writing funk... Happy Nanowrimo!

In other news, if you for some reason want to see a list of classes (a very full, very long, very detailed list), just ask and ye shall receive. Sort of spoilery if it can even be called that because the classes people chose and the teachers are listed (but also AIM is there so you can find those anyways), but I will still send you a link if asked.

xx kie