AN: Please forgive any typing or grammatical errors.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Chapter Six
Hylas, to be honest, hadn't considered the hat's words about the school's headmaster until he had settled down at his new house's table and the feast had begun. That was when he finally observed the group of adults that were positioned at a long table overlooking the student tables in the Great Hall.
Unbecomingly, his spoon clattered as it fell from his hand. He was unable to take his eyes away from the man who had ruined his life. The old man who was dressed atrociously and smiling down at him as if he hadn't kidnapped Hylas away from his world, his dimension. His family. The man who turned to smile and laugh as if nothing in the world was wrong with the professor next to him.
Hylas had the sudden and urgent desire to strangle the man with his ridiculous beard.
Through the rest of the feast Hylas had trouble controlling the anger boiling throughout his veins, and of course as a proper gentleman there was no way he would allow it to be perceived by his new peers. He didn't know these people and they were not going to be allowed to see him overcome with emotion.
He barely paid any attention to those who tried to speak to him or the deathly announcements that came from the vile man's lips.
He walked as if dazed, an animated corpse, following his house to his new dormitory.
The slight, momentary pause in the common room for some older student to speak to the first years went by like a blur, Hylas barely retained a word of what was said. It was so bad that he almost walked up the girls set of stairs to their rooms. If he had been his proper state of mind he would have been flushing in humiliation, yet he could not muster such motion.
All he felt was rage.
When he was able to be sequestered behind his locked door in his private room ( he would later recall some talk of how Ravenclaws of all years were given private, sound proof rooms for their studying habits, though they could not be locked if more than one person was in the room), Hylas lost it. His unwanted and unnatural magic that coursed through his body went wild at the emotional upheaval.
The furniture in the sparse room began to float and quiver at the frenzied energy, even the door began to creak and groan painfully. Then just as rapidly as the chaos began, the furniture was lowered to the floor with no lasting damage and the energy that had violently filled the room was once more contained.
Everything was at peace…except for Hylas himself.
Since arriving in this dimension, Hylas had been lucky. Not lucky in the fact he had been kidnapped, bound, and forced to play servant to barn animals, no. But, lucky in the fact his illness had been relatively dormant. Of course he sometimes had a coughing fit when he overworked himself, or stressed out thinking of home, but that had been light a gentle compared to how bad his illness could affect him.
Due to the emotional distress of seeing the man responsible for the ruination of his life, Hylas collapsed to the ground like a marionette cut from its strings. His body quaked, quivered, and spasmed as violent and bloody coughs racked his throat. It continued for what felt to Hylas an eternity, but really couldn't have been more than twenty minutes.
Finally the bout ceased and Hylas forced himself up to proceed to unpack his trunk and go through his nightly preparations (thank the lord for private bathrooms, he had just had to brush his teeth – blood tasted like iron). Unhappily he went to bed exhausted, he had wanted to write to Nigel as soon as possible to check up on the man, but was unable to muster the strength.
Before sweet sleep could drag him under, he had the unpleasant thought that tonight's attack meant his illness was going to become more active in the near future.
He really hoped he was wrong.
Territerriterriterri
By the conclusion of his first month at Hogwarts Hylas had made two points perfectly clear in his mind.
1.) Hogwarts and wizards in general were backwards and near useless.
2.) He hated being right.
On his very first day he had ostracized himself from his classmates by losing fifty points. Not at the same time mine you, but for the same reason. Hylas hadn't done anything wrong per se, however, he had managed to walk into all of his classes twenty minutes late.
He had foregone breakfast so that he could catch a few extra minutes of rest to recuperate from the last night's fit. Thus he was not able to walk with his classmates to their first class, getting horribly lost on his own. And because he was lectured by the teacher – which forced him to stay a few minutes late, again missing the opportunity to walk with the group – he was again late. This vicious cycle repeated throughout the day.
Needless to say, the Ravenclaw first years didn't like him too well by the end of the day.
Though a little hurt by their exclusion of him, Hylas wasn't devastated. He was wary of making deep emotional connections that could potentially bind him to this world. Nigel had already become a beloved figure in his life he would miss dearly upon returning home. The Weasley twins were fast becoming his closed friends.
(They had applauded his ability to get in trouble so much on the first day, and laughed at Hylas' pink tinged face when they learned what he had done to lose those points.)
The teachers seemed to have had some preconceived expectation from him, and though he was doing quite well in all of his classes – no matter how ridiculous he thought the subject – they all seemed disappointed at him somehow. Possibly because while he passed with flying colors on the essays and knowledge side, he had trouble actually controlling his magic. It made perfect sense to him, after all, he hadn't come by the power naturally so of course he was going to have trouble conducting it.
The teachers not knowing this appeared to think he was either not trying hard enough or was just talentless.
Truth be told, Hylas couldn't care less.
Magic was shortcuts to him, and people who used it were merely lazy. Yes, it was surely impressive to see a feather floating in the air, but one could just pick it up and move it. Fascinating as it was to see a white tea pot be charmed blue, someone could have just as easily painted the thing. Sure magic made the impossible seem possible, but to Hylas some of the technology that had been invented in this world was just as amazing as magic, if not more so.
Which is why he continued to keep up his studies with non-magical topics. Of course he could just be biased.
The only classed he really liked, or rather saw some practical use in, were herbology and potions. They were the only two classes where magic was not necessary; they were also the only two classes that involved the possibility of healing or medicine. Certain plants had healing capabilities and when combined they created potions that could heal – people who didn't even have magic could do it, did he mention?
Professor Sprout had been giddy at his enthusiasm for the subject and paired him with Neville Logbottom. Logbottom was a shy and quiet boy from Gryffindor whose best subject was herbology. They got along well enough, so the partnership worked out.
As for the potions teacher, Professor Snape, the first day the man strode in with his black robes flaring; Hylas had been less than impressed. Intimidation tactics only annoyed Hylas at this point in his life, especially by a teacher, who by law could not harm children under his tutelage – physically. Shows could only repeat so much before they grew boring, and that's all the man's act was – a show.
Hylas had been even less impressed by the man when he seemed to have it out for Hylas. Or rather "Harry Potter, the new celebrity". Though the man did back off a bit when Hylas answered all the questions correctly and made a perfect potion that day in class despite showing up late.
Though herbology and potions were classes he liked, he still thought Hogwarts was backwards and useless. There were no non-magical classes, this he had known and abhorred before even setting foot in the place, but how bad it was didn't make itself crystal clear until he was actually here.
Here and actually around people who had no experience with normal, non-magical people. They would stick out like swans in a group of ducks. If they were not able to find jobs in the magical world, they wouldn't even be able to function in the non-magical one.
It was awful.
When the twins had asked him the purpose of a rubber duck his jaw had dropped most unbecomingly. He then had proceeded to lecture them about the non-magical, its subjects (math, science, and literature), and technology.
They quickly feel in love with motorcycle and mechanics just like him.
As for the second point, well, a few days after classes had begun Hylas fits started coming more regularly. He'd have one every three to four days if he was lucky. When he wasn't… sometimes he would have two or three in a single day.
This caused him to retreat to his room, an empty classroom, or empty bathroom quite frequently. Causing him to be late for classes more often and lose more points (though by the end of the month teachers had come to realize he really did get lost more often than not and had come to expect it and not question him).
He hated being right.
Territerriterriterriterri
It was a week before Halloween when the twins found out about QT's illness. To say they were concerned was an understatement. Even in the short time they had known him, he had gotten past their barriers and they genuinely considered him a younger brother. The twins, though outwardly friendly and open, generally relied on themselves; they didn't let others into their world, but once someone was in the twins didn't let them go easily.
They were selfish like that.
They day they discovered QT's illness had been a perfectly average day. QT had been late for dinner – nothing unusual, the whole school knew of QT's propensity to get lost by this point. However, when he didn't show up at all they began to grow concerned.
So, as the brilliant people they were, they hurried back to Gryffindor tower to retrieve their map ( something they had seriously considered giving to QT, but were still deliberating). Just as the map had said they found QT in an empty classroom on the sixth floor.
The map, however, had not been able to warn them about finding their adoptive brother passed out on the floor with blood staining his lips and hands.
QT had woken up just in time to prevent them from rushing to find a professor or Madame Pomfrey.
He tried to calm them down (really, why was QT calming them down? He was the one coughing up blood. Blood!) and explained to them what was wrong.
"I was born-" QT's voice was cut off strangely, and a brief look of irritation flashed over him as he grabbed the bracelet he always wore on his arm. After a pause he continued, "I have a rare strain of tuberculosis. There is no known cure, unlike the regular strain, however it is not terminal, merely" QT's voice twisted the word unpleasantly "debilitating. It is caused by the development of a certain bacteria in the womb, it is not hereditary either."
"So you are not dying?" They asked anxiously.
"No, I am not dying," QT's lips managed a weak smile. "Just coughing up blood every so often."
They frowned at each other, unhappy with that answer.
"So is this why you study medical texts so much?" They asked, to which the younger red head responded with a nod.
"Is there anything we can do?" They asked.
"Not that will improve my condition." QT said, a wicked smirk appearing on his face that they knew they would like.
"Who can we prank to cheer you up then?"
QT's smirk grew even wider. They grinned. The least they could do was entertain their darling brother.
Territerriterriterriterri
Very suddenly Albus Dumbledore became the victim of many pranks. One day everything he put in his mouth tasted like asparagus, even his beloved lemon drops. His clothes had been dyed gray and while he was walking one day through the hallways his beard vanished completely. His lemon drops were replaced by marbles and one day he burst into song uncontrollably every time he opened his mouth.
Which wouldn't have been so bad had the songs not been muggle one's like: "I'm sexy and I know it", "I kissed a girl" (male version), and the like. It was embarrassing.
It was almost as if someone had it out for him. Him! Albus Dumbledore, defeater of Grindelwald and leader of the light.
Who could possibly hate him?
Territerriterriterriterri
Hylas hated that man. What kind of incompetent human being allowed a troll to be released amongst students. Apparently Albus Dumbledore, who also instructed students to report to their houses when a troll is reported to be in the dungeons. Need he also mention that two out of four of the houses are in the dungeons (according to the Weasley twins).
This gross incompetence, of the entire staff, allowed the troll to kill a first year Gryffindor.
Territerriterriterriterri
After that incident at Halloween the rest of the year went by less eventful, thankfully.
Hylas wrote to Nigel without fail every week. He did not relay the death of his classmate – that would only drive the man to hysterics. He did however speak of his distain for the school and magic in general. He wrote of his pranks with the twins and even wrote to admit his illness to Nigel after the twins discovered (Nigel would not be pleased at being kept out of the loop).
Strangely after he told Nigel the twins began to receive letters and goody baskets from the tailor just as Hylas received from the man. At first he had felt faint pains of jealousy, but luckily, that had soon faded into a warm unnamable emotion that made him happy all the people he cared for in this world were getting along.
Every day after class Hylas, Fred, and George would meet up in an empty classroom (for when Hylas felt a fit coming on), the back of the library, or under the tree near the Black Lake. They chatted, Hylas lectured to a rapt audience about medicine, mechanics, and other non-magical topics ( the teachers would be amazed that the Weasley twins could sit still and concentrate for so long), and they planned pranks. They quickly became the best and closest friends Hylas had ever had – to be honest, there wasn't much competition, but still.
He considered the twins elder brothers.
As Christmas Holiday rolled around Hylas, Nigel, and the twins had made arrangements to spend the entire break at a Potter family apartment in Paris.
Nigel had enthusiastically written that it was going to be like a massive slumber party (he had written in capital letters with multiple exclamation marks, which Hylas figured to be the written form of squealing). And the twins, after receiving permission from their parents – who were going to Romania for the holiday- were excited to meet Nigel for the first time.
So yes, Hylas was very much looking forward to the holidays.
AN: Please tell me what you think.