Wrong-boy-who-lived.
This part skips the rest of the visit to Hogwarts and goes straight to the Hogwarts students visiting Muse academy.
Part 4.
A week had passed at Hogwarts and now the Muse academy students were ready to return home along with the ten Hogwarts students that would be staying at the academy for a week. It had been an eventful week at the school with the academy students constantly showing off their skills in front of the students and even willingly teaching some of the Hogwarts students some spells and other skills, by the end of it quite a few children were asking if they could go to the academy the next year due to the non-biased perspective and superior teaching they had.
Out of the Hogwarts students going to the academy some of them weren't a surprise. There was Connor Potter, Ron and Ginny Weasley, Hermione Granger, Draco Malfoy, Fred and George Weasley, Luna Lovegood, Neville Longbottom, and Dean Tomas. Thankfully, Melody had quite a large hand in some of the students going, which was why Luna and the Weasley twins were going; Melody liked Luna and thought she would fit in perfectly at the academy, and the twins' love of mischief made her fall in love with the boys. Unfortunately, Dumbledore had elected himself as the teacher who would accompany the Hogwarts students.
The Muse academy students, Hogwarts students, Melody and Dumbledore now stood in the field not far from the school with their luggage.
"So, how are we getting to the academy?" inquired Hermione.
"There's a special teleportation system that the students can use, but only those who go to or live at the academy can use it, so Anna will be taking us." Melody said.
Everyone turned to face Anna as she withdrew a piece of chalk from a packet of them in her pocket and drew a door on a nearby tree. Then to the Hogwarts representatives' shock, she opened to door to reveal clouds with a golden gate and a large white wall in the distance on the other side. The Hogwarts students gawked at it, some even went behind the tree but found it unchanged.
"Come on then." Melody said as she walked through the door.
The academy students followed in immediately after, followed one by one by the school students. The door closed after them, the chalk on the tree quickly fading; as it was never there at all.
The group kept walking until they came to the gate in the wall, either side of the gate were two huge female statues clad in battle armour with their swords crossed. As the group came to a stop the statues suddenly came to life and stared down at them, Melody stepped in front and held up an arm and spoke in Greek. The statues returned to their positions and uncrossed their swords as the gate opened, the group walked through it with it closing behind them.
Inside with gate was an arch displaying the academy's crest and motto. The crest was a shield with a faceless woman on it, in the woman's right hand was a sword and in her left was a book; all done in gold. The motto was in ancient Greek but translated out to 'the sky is never the limit'. (AN. I got the motto from Storm Hawks.)
But it was what lay beyond the arch that caught the attention of the Hogwarts students and headmaster, even some of the academy students who were still not used to the sight.
"This place is beautiful, it's like the home of the gods." Luna said.
"Funny you should say that," Melody said as she laughed slightly. "Representatives of Hogwarts, welcome to Olympus, home of Muse academy."
"Olympus? As in the home of the Greek gods?" Hermione asked.
"Yep, the Greek and Roman gods did exist once but faded with the belief in them. Since no one was using the place my sisters and I decided it would be the perfect place to set up the academy." Melody said as they walked.
"But…how?"
"You'll find out once you have history with Zoë, it's one of the standard things taught here."
The group walked down the brick road that led to the main part of the academy where the rest of the Muses would be waiting for them. Around them children of all ages walked to places or playing.
"Jake, Trina, Jimmy, Tara, Harry, Pip, Jemma, Tristan, Alex, Anna, you can go to your dorms and unpack." Melody addressed each of the academy students.
"Thanks, Melody." the children said as they went off to their dorms.
The group consisting of Melody, the Hogwarts students and Dumbledore walked until they came to a small temple that worked as the head office. Melody guided them through the temple until they came to a large door with a 'knock and wait' sign on it and a golden plaque saying, 'Headmistress Zoë Vale'. Melody, instead of knocking and waiting, opened the door strait away and the group followed, they were greeted with the sight of Zoë at her desk with her head down as she wrote something.
"Melody, do you ever knock?" Zoë asked, not looking up from what she was doing.
Melody went to answer but was cut off.
"Wait, don't answer that, I've known you long enough to know the answer." Zoë said as she looked up.
The Hogwarts students were once again shocked at how young Zoë looked before reminding themselves that the Muses chose to look young and were actually much older.
Zoë stood up from her place at her desk and walked forward and held out her hand.
"Zoë Vale, headmistress of Muse academy." she introduced herself.
Dumbledore shook Zoë's hand.
"Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts." he introduced himself.
Zoë looked unimpressed with Dumbledore.
"Why are you accompanying the children? The reason I didn't accompany my children is because, as the headmistress, I have to attend to all the other needs of the children. Don't you have a lot of duties to attend to as the headmaster and all your other titles." she said.
Dumbledore looked affronted with the lack of respect he was getting but Zoë looked like she couldn't care less.
"Regardless," Zoë said as she picked up a pile of files and handed one to each of the students. "In these files are the essentials of what you need to know during your stay at Muse academy. A map of Olympus, list of each of the subjects, list of all of the teachers, academy rules, where you'll be staying, information of your guide, etc. Your guide is one of the students who have volunteered to show you around the academy and get you used to the place, answering the questions you'll have. You'll all be staying in flat 26B. Your lessons start tomorrow, so I suggest that you all get an early night."
Zoë dismissed them out of her office while she and Melody talked. Waiting for the representatives of Hogwarts were ten other children that were to act as their guides and Maria Wild to act as a guide (keep a close eye on) for Dumbledore.
"I'm supposed to be with Jacqueline James." Luna said.
"That would be me." said a girl with short brown hair and brown eyes.
Soon all of the Hogwarts students found their guides.
"Okay, students." said Maria, getting everyone's attention. "First were stopping off at the flat for our exchange students to drop off their belongings and claim their rooms, then we can show them other places before it's time for the day students to turn in."
"Day students?" Dumbledore asked.
"Yes. Some of our students are nocturnal, so the academy is split between day students and night students. Thankfully, my sisters, I and some other teachers rarely need sleep, and we have separate teachers for the day and night classes for those that do need regular sleep. It's all explained in the folders you've been given."
The Hogwarts students were shown to a large house that had enough rooms for everyone. Some of the students chose to stay at the house as their guide explained things to them while the rest were taken on a tour around the academy by their guide. As the sun began to set on Olympus the day students who stayed at the academy gradually retired to their dorms; this included the Hogwarts students.
"I'd advise you not to go out at night, a lot of the night students aren't very trusting around strangers." advised one of the guides as they left the Hogwarts students in their house to go to their own dorms.
"Anyone want to compare timetables?" asked Hermione.
A few of the others nodded and swapped timetables.
"Hang on," said Dean. "How come George and Fred are in some of our classes?"
"My guide explained when I asked." Hermione said. "Some classes are judged by how well you do in them, not your age group."
"What do we know on the teachers and lessons?" Neville asked.
"The main teachers are the five Muses and three sisters named the Saxton triplets. Crysta Leonardo teaches PE, drama, dance and gymnastics. The headmistress, Zoë Vale, teaches history, languages, English and science. Maria Wild teaches self-defence, physical and magical, English, languages, transfiguration and expressive writing. Melody Caine teaches music. And Dora Falcon teaches art and archery." Hermione explained each of the Muses.
"We found out a bit about the Saxton sisters." George said. "Each of them can teach the same subjects; charms, potions, transfiguration, astrology, and magical creatures. They're identical triplets except for their hair and eye colour and aren't fully human."
"Were getting taught by half-breeds?" Draco sneered.
"What do you expect? Considering all the different students." Fred said.
"What about the lessons?" Ginny asked.
"The lessons are a combination of muggle and wizarding subjects, a student can decided which one they want to take except for some of the lessons that are compulsory. There's also a wide range of extra-curricular activities." Hermione said.
"Extra-curricular activities?" Ron asked.
"They're activities that you do out of school time, such as the dancing and archery." Hermione said with a roll of her eyes. "Anyway, it's getting late and I'm going to bed."
Hermione left the room to go to the bedroom that she shared with the other girls. Soon everyone else went to bed as well.
In the morning the guides came to pick up the children and show them around more before taking them to their lessons. All of the Hogwarts students were in English together.
"Why do we need to learn English, we speak it perfectly?" Draco asked.
"English is another term for literacy. You learn about writing and analysing it." Maria answered Draco as she arrived in the classroom. "The book that you'll be analysing is one of my favourites and is a well known book that I expect most of you should know, Peter Pan by J.M Barrie."
Many in the class cheered since they loved the book.
"I chose this book because it's an easy book for both magic and non-magic children to read. We can watch the movie adaptation later on, but only after we've all read the book." Maria said when some children put their hands up.
More cheers arose as the children put their hands down.
"Now for those of you who don't know, Peter Pan is a book by a well known children's author about a boy who will never grow up and how he and his fairy Tinkerbell take the Darling children off to Neverland and have adventures with the Lost boys." Maria explained.
"Why are we reading a children's book?" Connor asked rudely.
"Because this book, although written for children, can be fully enjoyed by all age groups, and I find that if someone enjoys something more, the more they're able to learn about it," Maria answered. "Now, let's start reading. All children, except one, grow up…"
As Maria read she did an individual voice for each of the parts and even acted out some of the scenes. It was a very enjoyable lesson and the children found themselves remembering a lot of what Maria had read out.
The next class was history, where the Hogwarts students got to learn the history of the Muses and the academy. Zoë entered the classroom and began the lesson.
"Now, who here knows about the Greek and Roman myths?" Zoë asked the class.
Many put their hands up in response. Zoë pointed to Hermione.
"There a group of stories based about heroes and gods." Hermione answered.
"Good." Zoë said. "Believe it or not, the Greek and Roman gods did exist, though not at the same time. Not much is known about how they existed, that information was lost when they fell. What is known is that they operated on belief. They first existed as the Greek gods when the Greeks, somehow, created them with their belief, aiding humanity in the ways they saw fit. But as Greece fell and Rome arose, belief started to die out in them, to stop this they changed themselves to suit the Roman views of gods since they were so similar, and they lived on. But as Christianity became popular belief in them once again started to die out and this time their was no escaping their inevitable destruction."
Someone put their hand up.
"Yes?" Zoë asked them.
"If the Greek and Roman gods became real through belief, did other gods?" the child asked.
"Yes. Some, like the Greeks and Romans, faded once enough belief in them died out. Some still exist today but they can only interact with their believers. Anyway, since the gods knew they couldn't escape they instead created their legacies, beings that would carry on their name and power but not run on belief, they created the five Muses, us. They did this by turning themselves into something we call dream-dust"
Zoë held up her hand and conjured up some silver dust, the dust took various shapes and flew around the room before disappearing.
"Dream-dust creates a Muse by finding a girl who hold certain values and certain things about her, it enters her bloodstream and her very soul and transforms her into a Muse, but the girl has to be near dead for this to happen or she can't handle the power and changes that happen to her."
"You mean you were dieing when you became a Muse?" a boy asked.
"A gloomy way to become a powerful being, yes. But it's something every Muse has to go through. Now, beings like the Muses cannot exist without purpose so the gods gave the Muses the purposes, mostly just edited versions of the original Muses' jobs. I have the purpose of Knowledge and History, Crysta has the purpose of Dance and Theatre, Maria has the Purpose of Literacy and Imagination, Melody has the purpose of Music, and Dora has the Purpose of Art. We use our dream-dust to influence people, therefore completing our purpose and allowing us to exist."
"What would happen if you didn't complete your purpose?" Luna asked.
"The dream-dust would leave us and we would revert back to our mortal forms. This is one of the few ways for a Muse to 'die'. You see, though the dream-dust does grant us a semblance to immortality, there are a few ways a Muse can die. But, every time a Muse dies a new one is created to take their place so that we always exist. Now, any other questions?"
Why did you decide to create the academy now, not earlier?" asked Ginny.
"Well, my sisters and I can become centuries old so it's easy for us to loose track of time, decades can sometimes seem like days. On a particular day we had noting to do and we realised we hadn't checked up on the magical world in quite a while and decided to visit, we weren't very happy on the conditions, basic rights been taken away and such. But the rules of being a Muse say that we can't directly involve ourselves in conflict, so we can't just go to your world and make you run it properly, nor can we use our dream-dust to influence you all so strongly that you change your ways. But, almost every Muse of the past has looked over our rules and written down every loophole they could find, and we found out there was nothing in the rules stopping us from creating the academy and indirectly teaching you of better ways."
The next lesson was potions with all three Saxton triplets. Before they entered all the children were given necklaces with gems on to wear.
"Why do we have to wear these?" Neville asked.
"It's because I'm a Siren." said a voice.
All heads turned to the front to see three young women. One wore mostly red clothing, had waist-length white hair that covered her left eye, the unhidden eye was blue, and she had a red fox tail and ears. Another wore mostly black, had ankle-length black hair in pigtails, red eyes, and white wings folded behind her back. The final woman wore mostly white, had shoulder-length red hair, brown eyes, and red tribal tattoos covered her body; she was the one who had spoken.
"Sirens have a strong natural allure, those gems you have been given cancel out my allure." the tattooed woman said. "But this isn't magical creatures, so no more on that."
"My name is Vida," said the fox woman. "My sister with the wings is Layla, she is unable to speak but she can still teach."
"And I'm Aria." said the tattooed woman.
"Now, in front of each of your pairs are the instructions for your healing potions and the methods that you need to use, the instructions are linked to your caldrons, so once you finish an instruction it'll be crossed off. You also have timers next to you for when you need to time adding the ingredients or stirring. Those of you who think that can do it may start whenever, those of you who are otherwise unsure of being able to do it can come and watch me do it step-by-step." Vida said.
The Hogwarts students were stunned, they were too used to Snape just writing down the instructions on the board and telling them to get on with it. All of their group but Connor, Draco and Ron went to the front, they were shown each individual step and technique needed to make the perfect potion before being sent back to their places to work on their own potions.
When Neville started making his potion he was a lot more confident about making it now that he knew what to do and didn't have to worry about Snape. When he added a wrong ingredient by accident he started to worry, even more when Aria came over to look at his potion.
"Right, what did you do wrong?" Aria asked him gently.
"I added the newts eyes instead of frogs." Neville replied nervously.
"Right, you need to neutralise the effect of the newt eyes, what plant does that?" Aria guided him.
Neville was confused, whenever someone got something wrong in Snapes' class he just vanished the messed-up potion and gave them a fail, he'd never hear of neutralising the effects of an ingredient.
Aria read the expression on his face. "You don't know what I'm talking about do you?" she asked.
Neville shook his head.
"I'll try to explain it as best I can. Most ingredients in potions have something that cancels out its effects. So if you accidentally add an ingredient that make the potion act as it shouldn't, adding the neutralising ingredient will return the potion almost to normal. I'll make sure we teach you all about it next lesson. Until then, add daisy petals to neutralise the newts eyes."
Aria then left to talk to her sisters.
By the end of the lesson Neville had created a potion that he could be proud of.