Monday after classes, McGonagall visited. And as a known chess enthusiast, I knew exactly what to do together with her.

First, she wanted the rundown. So I walked her around.

"Now, I'm happy to say professor, you gave us plenty of room to work with. So we've made use of every inch of it," I gestured to the tables set up near the entrance to the field. "On this side, students compete in a variety of games, both muggle and wizard. I'm hoping that this will not only help them learn to use their minds for lateral thinking, but also give us all insight into the similarities muggles and wizards have, rather than just differences."

"A worthy endeavor," she agreed, eyeing the games with some interest.

"On this other side," I pointed at one of the nearby tables where Hermione was trying her best to pretend like she wasn't paying immense attention to McGonagall. "Is where we get studying done. We help each other with homework, give each other new perspectives on subjects, share notes, and avoid Fred and George attempting to sell us auto-answer quills."

"You can't prove anything!" Fred called out from somewhere nearby.

"I can, I have pictures," I told McGonagall.

"He's a nutter, don't listen to him!" George yelled out.

McGonagall scoffed, too dignified to roll her eyes. "At the least I am glad to know you aren't using this field to simply play."

"Nope. I don't mind if people hang out, but I'm proud to say that most of what we do is dedicated to work."

McGonagall and I stepped past a painted line in the grass, after which a wall of sound hit us. She quirked an eyebrow, but said nothing else. Too bad. I was proud of the spell that muted sound from the rest of the field.

Harry and Seamus Finnigan were facing each other, one of many students paired up for duels. As McGonagall watched, Seamus waved his wand and pointed it at Harry.

"Petrificus Totalus!"

Harry dodged out of the way by the time 'lus' left Seamus' lips, and responded by pointing his own wand. "Expelliarmus!"

In another life, that would be one of Harry's most used spells. We'd see how things panned out here, but I was proud to see Seamus' wand jump out of his hand. Seamus squeaked, trying to run and pick it up, only for Harry's yell of 'Locomotor Mortis' to send him to the ground. Seamus rolled for a moment before conceding defeat.

"At this rate, you may end up simply replacing the need for a Dueling Club," she looked down at me seriously. "And you followed my rules to the letter."

"No spells that cause bodily harm, no physical contact, no throwing things at each other they can't handle," I said with a nod. "I'm sure that if we had more older students, they would complain about that, but most of us are first years."

McGonagall seemed to ease up, just a bit. She looked around briefly at the others, who were having similar fights or were simply practicing spells. Her eyes stopped on Neville, who had a needle in his hand that he seemed very proud of.

"Good. Very good."

She seemed proud. I walked her to the back of the field, where Susan was punching at Wayne, who was holding a pair of pads for her. Her hands were wrapped up and she had a very intense look on her face. Wayne was almost lazily moving his pads to let her hit them, but someone looking closely would have noticed how hard she had to try to hit them.

Behind them, Ron was doing burpees. The Weasley had gotten pretty fit over the last month.

"I've been careful to make sure none of the kids overwork themselves," I told McGonagall seriously. "Even Fred and George."

"Oh, are you the reason for their new burst of strength?" she asked. As if she didn't know.

"They are the reason for it. I just taught them exercises. They're the ones who kept up the work. They may be pranksters, but they're hard workers too."

Not that one excluded the other.

"Indeed. If only they could apply themselves as much to their studies," McGonagall turned and strode back towards the board games. "I may suggest, Mr. Ahmed, that we provide you a classroom for the more cerebral pursuits. I imagine the wind might interrupt those activities, and even warming charms can't stave off all of the cold."

That was true. While the field was mostly wind and snow free, it was still annoying. McGonagall took a seat at a table and eyed the game there seriously.

"Now, what is this?"

"A game from a book series I enjoy. It's called," I waved over the board dramatically, with the line of stoic figures around the edges of it,and taller and beefier looking ones circled in the center. "Thud."

"Thud?" McGonagall watched the board carefully as I sat across from her. "Very well. How is it played?"

"Well, there are two sides. Trolls and Dwarves, both with their own strengths and weaknesses. The way it works-"

As I explained the rules, I felt a bit of pride fill me. We'd done some good work. And with a classroom for us to work in, we could do even more.

Of course, first I had to get my ass kicked in Thud by McGonagall. She learned the rules perfectly like a minute before our first game, how the hell?

Well, she asked for her own Thud board afterwards. Apparently the fact the game forced you to completely change styles of combat between sides interested her, beyond the allround strategic thinking behind it.

For a moment, I pictured McGonagall meeting the Vetinari. Match made in heaven, probably.

"Anything?" I asked Hermione the next day, both of us in the classroom McGonagall had promised us. Daphne was watching on, looking with mild interest, as Hermione switched on the device on the table. Next to it, another one was playing music.

Under pressure - that burns a building down
Splits a family in two

As the tones of some of the greatest singers in history played from the others, Hermione flicked the walkman we were working with on, off, then on again.

"No. It's simply not turning on," Hermione, rather than looking dismayed, seemed excited. "So the line seems to be based on just how much electricity is running through these, rather than anything about the technology itself. The more powerful the battery, the less likely it is to work."

"But batteries just produce electricity through a chemical reaction, don't they?" Damnit, my lack of knowledge on shit like this was working against me. "We need to set up a Faraday cage, see if maybe magic creates something similar to an electromagnetic field that interrupts other ones."

"What is that, anyways?" Daphne was bobbing her head. "I haven't heard this music before."

"You haven't heard of Queen!?" Hermione squeaked, shocked.

"You'd be surprised how common that is," I noted. "And these are Walkmans. They let muggles carry music to listen to while they walk around. I have a bunch that I've repaired over the years."

I patted each one. "1979, 83, 85, 87, 90, and this little number that Harry's cousin sat on came out just this year."

Dudley was the source of a lot of my tech. I'd hit a bunch of them with Reparo the second I'd gotten to Hogwarts and learned to use the spell.

"I like it," Daphne said, listening to the old mixtape as Freddie Mercury faded into Master of Puppets.

"Do wizarding families not listen to muggle music?" Hermione asked Daphne as I wrote down the results of our testing.

"I don't know. I do know we have nothing like these," Daphne noted. "We do listen to music on the radio from normal stations. Like WWN."

"That surprises me," I said. "I'd have thought someone would have made a magical equivalent to a walkman."

"I'm sure someone has," Hermione mumbled.

"My father knows a spell to make instruments play by themselves," Daphne said. She picked up the earphones of one of the walkmans and placed them on her head. "And he enchants our gramophone all the time, but nothing like this."

I looked over at her. She was listening to the music with almost awe on her face. Well. Music does bring us together.

That aside, the experiment with the walkmans had proven fruitful. The reason Hermione and I had decided on them for it was that they would have the best response to whatever field was set up around the school.

Sure, the most recent ones had simply not turned off, but the big beefy one I'd brought had sputtered and spat out portions of music, while the less powerful but still functional early models ran as smooth as butter.

Unless they used more power.

"Does Hogwarts have something that interferes with electricity?" Hermione asked. "Perhaps something like that may be the issue!"

"Ah, quite perceptive, Ms. Granger," a wizened and wise voice said. "Magic does have an effect of course, but you have the right idea. In fact, as the tallest structure in the area, the castle was fitted with spells, charms, runes and other protections to prevent lightning from striking the building in the event of storms. I suppose the founders didn't expect muggles to turn electricity into such a useful resource."

"That makes perfect sense!" Hermione said excitedly. "Of course! If the castle was built to drive off any accidental lightning, it wouldn't discriminate! Thank you so much-" she turned, giddy as could be, then stalled as she realized just who had spoken. "H-Headmaster!"

Daphne and I stared at the man as he stood in the classroom's doorway. Dumbledore's eyes twinkled. "That is one of a few titles given to me. Though to be honest children, they do get tiresome once you get more than three."

"And the award for the world's biggest humble brag goes to…" I mumbled.

Daphne smashed her elbow into my side. Before I could say anything, Hermione did the same on the other side.

Dumbledore, rather than being offended, only laughed. "Indeed, Mr. Ahmed! And yet, I think I've earned a 'humble brag' or two, haven't I?"

I nodded in agreement.

"Headmaster," Daphne said respectfully. "We didn't know you would be joining us today."

"Neither did I," Dumbledore strode forward, looking over the walkmans. "But I must admit to having had some interest in this new club, SWOLE. It's rare I see a single first year so motivated. Let alone so many!"

He gave us a smile. I felt like I was getting put under a magnifying glass.

I knew there were a few comments, in universe and out, about Dumbledore being senile. If he was, then… let me put it this way. Dumbledore's senile would still be leagues above most people's smartest moments.

I had immense doubts that he was senile. More like he just liked playing the part… until he decided to start ripping buildings apart and turning people into frogs with blinks.

This was the first time I'd been so close to him and I was worried he was going to find out all of my secrets in moments.

I kept from meeting his eyes.

"We're doing our best, sir," I said. "The wizarding world is full of opportunity."

"Oh indeed. And yet, so few are willing to take those opportunities. I am proud to see you taking those steps. I hope you don't mind the advice of this old man from time to time in helping you with that."

Hermione and Daphne both let out sounds, though Daphne spoke first.

"Not at all sir! It would be an honor!"

"Yes, please join us! I have so many questions!" Hermione was practically vibrating.

"You might regret this, sir," I said as casually as I could. "Granger and Greengrass are both smart enough to ask 100 questions for every answer you give. You won't be able to dodge them now."

Both girls glared at me. Dumbledore's eyes twinkled. "Ah, but that is the price I pay as an educator."

"I thought the whole point of becoming a headmaster was that you could outsource the teaching to everyone else."

"You forget, my boy, about the large office. It is quite spacious."

"Ah, my bad."

Dumbledore sat down in a chair that appeared with a wave of his hand. "So, I believe you are attempting to solve the issue of muggle technology not working in Hogwarts? Are you not satisfied with simply running technology on ambient magic as some do with cameras?"

Hermione, Daphne, and I all shared a look. Then we sat down.

With the most powerful man on the planet giving advice, we began to work on the problem.

And I kept my eyes away from his.

Why did Dumbledore come join us? Why? Harry wasn't in the class, he was playing Quidditch. Was it me? Was it a coincidence? The question would bother me for days after.

Also, he borrowed one of the walkmans, for 'experimentation'. I doubted it. More like he really liked Ozzy Ozbourne. Man had good taste, because Iron Man fucking rules.

Friday, Potions class was interesting. We were all sat in class with the Ravenclaws. I was sat next to Wayne, with Sue Li and Anthony across the aisle from us. Snape swept in.

Literally, swept in. He did it all the time, with dramatic and swooping movements of his cape. I think he did it to be impressive. Me, I thought he was a drama queen.

We were both probably right.

Snape surprised me that day. He stopped midway through the aisles, next to me. Slowly, he turned to look down.

"Gareth Ahmed," Snape said with a small inflection on my first name. "So, you've recovered from your little… adventure."

"Yes."

I said it the way I always did when I spoke with him. Matter of factly. Boring. This was the first time he seemed to notice.

His lips twitched. "How quaint. Then let me see if you've recovered. Tell me, Mr. Ahmed, what would I need if I wished to create Polyjuice Potion?"

Yo, what the fuck? Wasn't that a sixth year kinda question?!

I felt my eyes bug out. He smirked.

"I don't know."

"Oh, how sad." Look, do I need to explain that he didn't seem at all sincere? "What a shame, perhaps your wounds had more of an effect than I thought? Let's try again, Mr. Ahmed, what is the third step in creating Veritaserum?"

Well this was feeling familiar. "I don't know."

He clicked his tongue. I stilled my face as best as I could, flipping through what could be the cause of this. Why the sudden interest? This was a lot more focus than he'd ever shown me before.

"I'm beginning to believe, Mr. Ahmed, that you may not be suffering from injuries, but are simply an outright dullard," Snape said viciously.

For not knowing what was the third step in truth serum?

I couldn't control it. A scoff left my lips.

Snape narrowed his eyes. "Have something to say, Mr. Ahmed?"

"No sir."

"Hm. 2 points from Hufflepuff for your attitude."

Cute.

Snape turned and walked towards the front of the class. "For your information, Mr. Ahmed, in order to create Polyjuice Potion, you would need-"

I began taking notes. Not of class, though I kept a clean set of those. I kept note of every comment Snape said towards me. He kept up his attitude. Good side, he was mostly ignoring everyone else. Bad side, I was getting ripped into like James Potter was my dad.

Or maybe Pops had banged Lily back in the day and Snape only just found out.

Whatever the case, by the time I was done, I'd been called all sorts of colorful versions of 'dumb'. Say what you will about Snape, the man had mastered the art of insulting people without being straight up vulgar.

Still, by the end of class, I was nearly fed up. I had new respect for Harry. A couple of hours and I wanted to break Snape's knees. At least before I felt like I was learning shit despite Snape's bs.

I left the class with annoyance in my heart. I'd continue to log every last thing Snape said. And if he kept the pattern up, well…

I could self-study perfectly fine on my own.

And hey, I cheered up when I saw Snape limping around the castle later on. Somebody had obviously visited Fluffy. I took some vindictive pleasure in visiting his class after hours to listen to him complain to Filch as he bandaged his wounds. Something about 'slipping on a damned squeaky toy after getting bit!', as he loudly complained.

A giant good boy got extra steak that day.

Author's Note: Sorry for the lateness. Bad couple of days. Next two chapters on my . In the meantime, hope you guys like this, please check out my original fic Rewired Saga, I promise it's good.