CHAPTER FIVE
ACCLIMATIZATION
O
At breakfast the next morning, they all received their schedules. Albus looked at his excitedly, but was disappointed to find out that today, he had neither of the classes he was most looking forward to—Transfiguration, because of Professor Desulgon, and Herbology, because of Professor Longbottom.
"Are all the first year Gryffindor schedules the same?" asked Eben, glancing over at Albus's schedule.
"I think so," said Albus.
Eben sighed. "I was looking forward to Transfiguration."
"Me too."
He glanced over the rest of his schedule. His Tuesdays and Thursdays looked awful… Fridays looked easy, but that might be because there was an empty slot where Flying would be.
Just as Albus reached something that raised a question in his mind, Kolby asked that question.
"What's 'Acclimatization?' We have it with the Slytherins on Friday."
"No idea," said Jonah, but Exo answered.
"It's a new class that my dad introduced with the mentoring program," he said. "It's only for the first term. It's intended to show us all the different things Hogwarts has to offer, like extra help programs, remedial classes, and how to use the library; stuff like that. I think our first lesson is just designed to help us navigate through the castle."
"That would be a lot more helpful if it was first thing today, instead of the last class of the week," said Toby. "I already know I'm going to get lost on the way to every class."
"Well, that's not the attitude we're looking for!" said a jolly voice behind them.
Wilcox appeared behind them, looking around at all the new Gryffindors; he tousled Exo's hair, and Exo scowled. "Getting all acquainted with each other, I see? Good! I hope your first day here at Hogwarts is a great one!"
He leaned down towards Exo; Albus, sitting next to him, caught the words which Wilcox whispered very quietly into his son's ear.
"You all right? We're at the two-mark…"
"I'm fine," Exo shot back.
"I'm sorry about—" A loud laugh issued from the Ravenclaw Table, and Albus missed a few words. —in Slytherin!"
"So did I…"
"Already? Should I—" Wilcox dropped his voice until it was like breathing, and Albus couldn't hear him at all, especially when more laughs broke out near him down the Gryffindor table. Albus leaned in closer on the pretext of getting more sausages; he was curious, he couldn't help it. He heard another fragment of a sentence from Wilcox: "—manner in which we discussed back at—" Someone dropped their plate, and there was more laughter.
"—embarrass me," mumbled Exo, just loud enough for Albus to hear.
"I promise, I won't talk to anyone," whispered Wilcox, and he clapped a hand on his son's shoulder. Then he addressed the table again.
"I'd like to request a favor from you Gryffindor first years," he announced. "Mr. Parker Pullman? Ah, here you are." He moved down two chairs and pat Parker on the shoulder as well. "Parker here is, as you can understand, unable to take notes in class. He has purchased textbooks in Braille, but he would greatly appreciate if someone here could take up the responsibility of keeping diligent notes, and reading him those notes at times when he wishes to study. Could I have a volunteer or two who would be interested in a job keeping notes? You will be paid for your kindness, of course, and I don't imagine that a habit like good note-taking will hurt your course grades, either. You don't have to volunteer for all seven years, but I would like the same person to stay with the job for at least one year at a time."
"I'll do it," said Exo.
Wilcox flinched slightly.
"What?" demanded Exo. "What, you think I can't take good notes? Just because I didn't enjoy my homeschooling experience as much as—"
"It's not that, Exo," said Wilcox, treading carefully with his words. "You're… you're frail. We discussed this. You might miss a good number of classes… you get sick easily. I'd like someone to take the job who doesn't have foreseeable plans to miss any classes, for Parker's sake of having a consistent helper."
"I'll do some," said Rose.
"Ah, thank you, Miss Weasley," said Wilcox, sighing in happiness. "Anyone else want to share responsibility?"
No one spoke for about five seconds. After a bit of thought, Albus decided that taking good notes was probably a healthy practice, and it didn't hurt that the job would pay him. "I'll take his notes, Professor," he said.
"Good boy, thank you!" said Wilcox. "Now, for how many classes would you be willing to ensure that you take diligent notes?"
Albus scratched his ear. "Anything but History of Magic," he answered.
Wilcox roared with laughter. "Yes, yes, I suppose that's understandable… would that be acceptable for you, Miss Weasley?"
Rose shrugged. "Sure."
"Now, you'll be exempted from Astronomy, of course, Parker," said Wilcox. "I hope it doesn't offend you, but I really can't see you… stargazing."
Parker shrugged. "No offense taken."
"So, not including Flying, that leaves six classes of notes. Defense Against the Dark Arts, History of Magic, Herbology, Potions, Charms, and beloved Transfiguration. Let us flip a coin… Mr. Potter, heads or tails?"
Wilcox was suddenly holding a coin, though Albus had not seen him draw a wand to conjure one. Albus smiled, and said, "Heads."
He flipped the coin and nodded.
"Heads indeed… You may choose first, Mr. Potter, and we'll go back and forth between you and Miss Weasley, selecting three classes each, the notes for which you'd like to be responsible. Mr. Potter?"
"Transfiguration," said Albus without hesitation, and he saw Rose's face show a slight hint of defeat.
"Herbology," she said in retaliation, smirking; she'd known Albus was looking forward to Herbology with Professor Longbottom.
Albus next chose Defense Against the Dark Arts, figuring that it would probably be interesting enough to keep him awake and be able to take notes. Rose selected Potions, and Albus took Charms, leaving Rose with History of Magic; she didn't look nearly as upset as Albus would have been. Obviously, he hadn't taken the class yet, but he'd heard awful rumors about it from James and his friends. He couldn't imagine always staying awake in History of Magic, especially since it was his very first class on every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Parker wasn't going to be the only one asking Rose for her notes.
"Thank you very much, very, very much," said Wilcox. "You'll each receive ten Galleons per term for—"
"Ten Galleons per term?" came an indignant cry from Riley Andersen. "You didn't tell us it was going to be that much!"
"Ten Galleons per term for each class," finished Wilcox.
The rest of the Gryffindor boys started clamoring their complaints that nobody told them that so much money was being offered, but Wilcox waved them off with a grin.
"Come, now, I left out the exact amount of payment on purpose," he said. "I needed the note-taker to be someone who wanted to do it as a kindness, not because they were getting money. Parker, if the arrangements aren't working out for some reason, come see me, all right? If it's urgent and you can't find a teacher available to take you, ask the portraits to direct you to my office." He waved goodbye and patted his son on the shoulder again. "Have an enlightening first day, everyone!"
With that, Albus finished his last helping of sausages and left for his first History of Magic lesson, an experience he looked forward to just for the purpose of getting it over with.
O
It was every bit as bad as Albus had expected. Professor Binns had spent about thirty seconds explaining how they would be tested and graded, explicitly ignored a question from Riley Andersen about how he managed to sort and grade papers without a physical body, and then immediately dove into the most boring lecture Albus had ever heard. He zoned in and out, spent half his time wondering when class would end, and spent the other half staring at Rose, wondering how she could will herself to stay awake and take notes on something like this.
Albus was sitting next to Alec; Gryffindor had History of Magic with the Ravenclaws. Alec dozed off almost immediately and had to be shaken awake at the end of class, and hadn't taken in anything. He didn't ask Albus anything about the lesson; instead, he packed his books quietly and shuffled out of the room, slightly pink in the face. All the other Ravenclaws were yawning, but they seemed to have been paying at least a little bit of attention; Ravenclaw house was, after all, noted for its scholarly inhabitants; Albus couldn't help but think that Rowena Ravenclaw wouldn't have liked to see one of her students sleeping through her lesson.
Then again, she'd probably never met Cuthbert Binns. Listening to one of this old ghost's lessons might change her mind.
Next, he had Defense Against the Dark Arts. Professor Westerling was a young-looking man, but he already had gray hair; his eyes seemed to be gray as well. He walked with a swing in his step and was constantly heard to be humming to himself while he wasn't talking. He seemed to have a perpetual and very genuine smile.
Professor Westerling's first class wasn't too interesting, but he promised that it would become very fun, very soon. For now, they discussed defensive theory, and the kids from magical households were allowed to openly discuss with the class what they knew about the Dark Arts. There wasn't much for Albus to write down in the way of notes. Professor Westerling concluded the class by offering extra credit to anyone who joined a kids' activist group called DDD! (Don't Do Dark!) and dismissed them with no homework. As they walked out, Albus noticed many of the Slytherins, including Scorpius Malfoy, throwing away the DDD! pamphlets without a second glance; probably without a first glance.
Eftan drifted towards Albus as the students filed out into the hall, and walked with him to lunch. "How were your first two classes?"
"History of Magic was excruciating," replied Albus. "But this class looks okay."
"What do you have next?"
"Charms," said Albus. "With the Hufflepuffs. You?"
"Herbology, with the Ravenclaws. Didn't you say your parents' friend taught Herbology?"
"Professor Longbottom, yeah," said Albus. "Ask him to tell the class the story about how he killed Voldemort's snake!"
"Who?"
As Albus held in an exasperated sigh at the fact that Eftan didn't know about the most famous Dark Wizard ever, his attention was drawn to the side as several sixth or seventh year Gryffindor boys smacked deliberately into Scorpius Malfoy, sending him tumbling to the floor, knocking an ink bottle down the stairs.
"What was that for?" shouted Scorpius and Albus at the same time; Scorpius flushed and threw Albus a dirty look.
"Whoa, firstie love," said a particularly nasty-looking older Gryffindor. "I guess baby Potter likes his… Dark meat."
Albus was confused by this, but it appeared to make sense to teenagers, because most of the older students nearby chuckled. Rather than responding, Albus cocked his head to one side, employing his favorite trick to use whenever he was annoyed at his brother; the robe of the older student caught fire. Albus always had a particular proclivity for pyrotechnics; he didn't even need to use a wand for this one.
"Get a closet," the older student sneered. "Or get a Vanishing Cabinet and kill some headmasters. Trust me, Potter, this type's trash. You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort."
"I think I can tell who the wrong sort are for myself, thanks," said Albus coolly. "And I guess you like your meat cooked thoroughly."
He gestured to the burning robe, but the older student remained oblivious.
"Harry?" said a particularly unattractive girl next to him. "Your robe's on fire."
Harry leapt up and cursed. He whipped out his wand and extinguished the flame, repairing the damage quickly, and then he narrowed his already tiny eyes at Albus. His wand flicked angrily, and he raised it a little.
"Just because your dad's Harry Potter doesn't mean you can mess with a seventh year and get away with it," he snorted. "Fame isn't everything, baby Potter."
"If fame isn't everything, then why're you putting so much effort into showing off?" said a familiar female voice; Albus turned to see Victoire striding up behind him. "Hey there, cousin."
"Hey," said Albus, relieved at the appearance of backup.
"Maybe you can help me out, Al," said Victoire. "I just learned a really good curse, and I need someone to test it out on. See any troll-brained losers picking on kids half their age?"
Harry stowed his wand and swaggered past Victoire; as he went by her, Albus saw him stick a hand out and give Victoire's backside a squeeze.
There was a BANG and jets of smoke flew horizontally away from Harry's head, which had suddenly turned upside down; his screaming mouth was on his forehead and his eyes rolled around slightly above his chin as he tripped and tumbled down the stairs.
"Huh," said Victoire, a hand to her chin. "That worked pretty superbly. I'll have to remember to thank Griselda for that one."
"Brilliant," said Eftan.
Albus looked around for Scorpius, but the pale-skinned boy was nowhere to be seen. Harry tried to get back up but toppled over again onto his inverted head.
"See you around, Albus," said Victoire. "Let me know if Harry Lussen messes with you again, I'll mess with his head again."
She strode into the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom that Albus had just vacated, and struck up a conversation with Professor Westerling.
Albus walked down a staircase to the Great Hall with Eftan behind him. "Are you friends with Scorpius?" he asked the Slytherin.
Eftan shook his head. "Nah. Scorpius… doesn't really talk to anyone. He keeps to himself. I'm not sure if it's because he doesn't want to hang around with other people, or if it's because other people don't want to hang around with him."
For the first time, Albus was glad that his father was so famous. It would have been so much worse if he'd had Scorpius's infamous family. He hoped that he could be friends with Scorpius one day, especially if Scorpius currently had no other friends. That dirty look Scorpius gave him in the hallway suggested otherwise, though…
O
During lunch, James congratulated Albus on having infuriated Harry Lussen; James had apparently made it his life goal to irritate Lussen into insanity. This was partially due to the fact that Lussen constantly tried to pick up Victoire, despite the fact that she hated his guts (and especially now that Teddy, whom James liked so much, was dating her), but more due to the fact that James had beaten out Lussen in Quidditch tryouts last year. Lussen had never let it go, accusing Gryffindor's Quidditch Captain Cheryl Wood of putting her friends' cousins on the team before the real talent—Cheryl and Victoire were quite close, but still, nobody could deny that apparently, watching Lussen race James to the Snitch in tryouts was like watching a crippled troll chase a cheetah. Unfortunately, Lussen was still an adequate enough Chaser to stay on the team, which explained why Roxanne was so hopeful for Palila Bell to already be a brilliant Chaser. She hoped that Pallie would kick Harry off the team, an infinitely more embarrassing cut if he lost the spot to a first year. Evidently, no one liked Harry Lussen except his pig-faced girlfriend, Erika Jordan, another Gryffindor Chaser.
James also noted that messing with an angry seventh year was not something he had expected Albus to do immediately upon arriving at Hogwarts. Albus wasn't sure whether he should be happy or concerned that James was proud of him. Congratulations was not what he had expected to hear from his brother on the first day of classes; he expected to hear a few insults, or to get tripped in the hall. His brother was acting pretty civil, in fact, and Albus was the one getting himself in over his head already.
Messing with a seventh year… Now that he thought about it, Albus realized that such an action really was quite out of his character. He thought for a while about what Luna Lovegood had said when he walked in to the wand shop… It seems you'll require an unusually combative wand…
A double class period came after lunch, and Albus was acquainted with Paragost Plinky, the tiny Charms Professor. He was shorter than any of the first year students, a trait he attributed to a distant goblin ancestor. Their first class was dedicated to theory, like Defense Against the Dark Arts, but Plinky promised that their next Double Charms lesson would include practicing levitation charms, which got them excited.
Albus knew that the double class periods were twice as long, but sitting through the class itself felt like four times as long; he just wanted to get to work learning spells and how to turn peoples' heads upside-down, and he knew there wouldn't be any of that in Potions class, which he had next. As Plinky finished his speech on why Transfiguration and Charms were separate courses, the bell finally sounded.
Albus walked over to Aidan, who was still putting his things away, and noticed that Aidan had already filled up a foot of notes in tiny handwriting on his Charms parchment. "What in the—? We didn't even talk about anything today!"
"He talked a little bit about the history of Charms as a subject," said Aidan. "And he described the differences between Charms and Transfiguration. I don't want to miss anything that might turn out to be note-worthy."
"God, you and Rose should get together some time," said Albus.
"Rose? Rose Weasley?" Aidan looked around the classroom and saw Rose rolling up a scroll of parchment with even more notes in even tinier handwriting. His eyes narrowed as if challenged.
"Yeah," said Albus. "Believe me, she's bound to be top of our grade."
Aidan tucked the parchment into his bag, and flicked his eyebrows upward. "We'll see."
O
Potions with the Slytherins was next. Albus heard his father telling James two years ago that Potions with Slytherin was the class he always dreaded the most; Harry hadn't told Albus this, probably because he figured it would scare his more timid son.
But Albus didn't feel timid any more. For some reason, ever since the hat had shouted for him to be placed in Gryffindor, he'd had a fire running through his veins. He felt courageous, enough to stand up to a seventh year and even provoke him a little bit. If the Potions master, who was also the Head of Slytherin House, was being biased and rude like Harry said Professor Snape was, Albus would give him a piece of his mind. He now wanted to release eleven years of mischief. It was held back in a shell of reclusiveness, built by a life of keeping a low head to stay out of the way of his easily irked brother.
Lost in thought, he didn't realize that he'd set his sandwich on fire. He shook it out, but in the process, his left sleeve and hair ignited.
"What the heck's going on with you, there?" asked Jonah from Albus's right, picking up a cloth from the table and patting out Albus's hair.
"I don't really know," said Albus, batting at his left sleeve. "I thought that uncontrolled underage magic mostly stopped when you got a wand."
"Maybe you need to let some energy out," Jonah said. "You're probably just excited, and we haven't done any spellwork yet today."
"Maybe you're right," said Albus. "Know any good spells I could do right here?"
Jonah stared. "You want to do a spell right now? Without any practice?"
"Why not?" Albus shrugged. "Know any?"
"You could try the levitation charm," said Jonah. "I know we're not starting it until next week, but I know the incantation, I've seen my mom use it. It's… 'Wing-Guardian Leviosa.'"
"Do I just point the wand at something?" asked Albus. "I've never done this before."
"I don't really know. Just try it out, what could happen?"
Albus pointed his wand at his sandwich and cleared his throat.
"Wing-Guardian Leviosa!"
His sandwich rocketed up like it was blasted out of a cannon; with a trail of flame, it splattered against the ceiling and then fell, burning to ashes as it drifted back to the ground. Several people who happened to be looking in his direction were laughing and gesturing to others.
"Whatever I did, I don't think it was exactly right," said Albus quietly.
"It's 'WINGARDIUM Leviosa,'" said Rose from several seats down. "Not 'Wing-Guardian.'"
"That might explain it," said Albus. "But I thought really unpredictable things were supposed to happen when you said the words wrong. That was still at least levitation."
His mind drifted back to his wand; it was the first time he'd used it, and it already seemed really powerful. And he hadn't even had practice with any form of magic yet, but he could already work it just fine. Luna had said some interesting things that his wand could help him do… perform magic with somewhat less theory than others… give a rather strong kick to your elemental forms of magic… Was that why things kept bursting into flame?
His wand twitched in his hand, and a little puff of flame flickered out of the tip.
O
Potions was the easiest class to find, as it was in the dungeons; no moving staircases or fake doors were there to hamper one's progress. The dungeons were dark and ominous, and Albus had a feeling that Professor Valon would be a dark person, but his guess was inaccurate. Professor Valon was young, around twenty-five or thirty, but neither dark nor bouncy; he seemed to be more of a neutral presence.
Potions class started with roll call, like the three classes before it; just like Albus's three other instructors, Professor Valon paused briefly at Albus's name.
His thin eyes flicked up and scanned the classroom, until he made contact with Albus's eyes, and they stared at each other for a moment.
"Hey," he said, and then continued with roll call.
Albus did not enjoy being singled out like this. Many of the Slytherins glanced over at him for the second time that day with something that suspiciously resembled dislike, and Albus thought he knew why… His father had probably gotten a lot of the Slytherin students' relatives arrested.
He tried to catch Scorpius's eye, to give a friendly smile, but Scorpius was determinedly looking forward.
"Weasley, Rose? Wilcox, Exorian?" Professor Valon looked up at Exo, and gave another nod. "Hey. Thought you'd be in my House, what happened?"
It was impossible to tell whether Professor Valon was joking or serious. Exo stared and didn't answer.
Professor Valon finished off the roll call with "Zabini, Jasmine," told Jasmine that he knew her father, and then waved his wand.
"This is a class of intensive theory and more intensive application," said Professor Valon as potion ingredients and measuring equipment sailed around the room in intricate spirals. "You will be working with material that is both life-saving and deadly, and as such, the most extreme caution should be exercised, along with the obvious virtue of common sense. Anyone lacking in common sense will be swiftly exiled from the classroom, and will probably not rejoin us.
"Please flip to page nineteen of your copy of Modern Potionmaking where you will find example instructions for brewing the Essence of Thunder, an elementary-level potion. I would like you to create this potion immediately. Everything you will need resides in labeled containers at the front of the classroom. You have thirty-five minutes, which is five more than you really need. Begin."
With that, he opened a copy of The Quibbler and set his feet on top of his desk.
It took most of the class almost half a minute to realize that Professor Valon was serious, and they shifted awkwardly in their seats, asking each other which page he said, and whether he actually expected them to do this. As people decided that he was serious, Albus opened his book and began reading.
EXAMPLE POTION: ESSENCE OF THUNDER
Before each potion will appear a summary of the potion, its history, its common uses, and the mark of a successful brew, to give our potion-maker some background.
The Essence of Thunder is a potion used in many basic-level classrooms because of its very, very simple yet ostentatious nature, and the short time required for maturation. When brewed properly (and little errors tend not to drastically affect the quality of this potion, as it is not used for consumption), this potion will give off deep rumbles, and any object dipped in it will become charged with electricity, delivering static shocks to anything with which it comes into contact. The Essence of Thunder will only rumble when it has reached average room temperature, meaning that it can be silently stored in the cold. Because its volume can be easily maintained, it is used as a sound effect in many dramatic performances.
PROCESS
The process section contains detailed instructions on how to concoct the described potion. Observe the format: Steps are separated by thick lines. The approximate time for each interval is listed to the left of the step. Separate steps are listed when the potion should be allowed to sit or simmer, to avoid an accident such as proceeding to a step without allowing the potion a proper amount of time to mature. To the right of each step is a "checklist" of sorts, for the purpose of making sure that each step has been performed properly and completely, or to which one can refer in order to summarize the production process of a potion in an essay or observe similar brewing characteristics in similar potions.
Always obtain all the ingredients necessary for production before taking even a single step forward unless noted. It is unwise to leave potions unattended. Therefore, the first step in the creation of a potion in this book is always to obtain the ingredients.
It is of critical importance that each step be followed very carefully, so take no instruction lightly. Even so, if missing or botching a certain step would be likely to produce DISASTROUS results, that step will be preceded by a set of seven bold exclamation points. Potionmakers are highly advised not to purposefully tamper with the instructions unless techniques can be adapted in reference to the instructions listed for similar potions; though a proper authority should always be notified if the potionmaker in question is underage, and this proper authority should grant some sort of approval for the experiment. In spite of the gravity of our numerous warnings, one should in fact strive to discover new and more effective ways of brewing potions; just not in a way that would endanger oneself or others.
STEP ONE. Obtain one six-inch root of Thunderroot, ten fireflies, and four standard-size electric catfish whiskers. CAUTION: Do not cut or puncture the Thunderroot. Even detached from the plant, it can deliver an electric shock that is fatal to most humans.
Albus sidled his way past the desks towards the front of the room, something that many people were now doing. The potion equipment that had sailed around the room had mostly placed itself back on shelves or in desks, but three containers were open and labeled on the front desk in front of Professor Valon: fireflies, electric catfish whiskers, and Thunderroot. The Thunderroots seemed to be shivering in their box.
"Where do you find Thunderroot, Professor?" asked a Slytherin boy who was eyeing the root with genuine interest. "I thought it was exotic and untradeable."
"It wasn't easy," replied Professor Valon. "What's your name again?"
"Desmond Sescis."
"I'm allowed to collect it for myself, but not bring it across borders," he continued. "Luckily, a previous Potions master at Hogwarts started a small colony deep in the Forbidden Forest, where it flourishes. I collect it fresh every week or so."
"Deep in the Forbidden Forest?" asked a girl with shock. "Isn't that dangerous?"
"Your name?"
"Uma Brayard."
"It is actually very dangerous. Professor Wilcox accompanies me to the site where we collect the Thunderroot. We rarely encounter anything serious on the way to the site, but it's fun to explore the forest a little bit while we're there, too, so we'll usually wander off and find Acromantula nests or visit the centaurs."
Several students looked as Professor Valon like he was crazy, but he waved his hand dismissively and said, "To your potions."
Albus just blindly followed the instructions on the page, not really sure what he was doing or why. He just assumed that if Professor Valon had asked them to create a potion without any practice, then this potion should be doable; and if not, he wouldn't be the only one unable to create it properly.
Thirty minutes passed as he dropped in fireflies every two minutes, poked the surface with his wand every two and a half, and looked over more of the textbook during the pauses. He was really interested already, and couldn't wait to learn some theory and make potions like were in the more advanced section of the book.
"Stop, please," said Professor Valon. "Anyone who stops immediately without doing anything else to their potion will earn full marks for today. If I see any student altering their potion after this point, that student will receive no marks. This was just a small test."
The room relaxed visibly, and Professor Valon walked around the class, looking at the potions in the cauldron, nodding every once in a while. He gave more explanation about the exercise as he did so.
"You see, there are two reasons why the Essence of Thunder is such a textbook potion for early classes. The first is, of course, the fact that the instructions are so simple. The second is a secret that we teachers keep from the students until everything is done."
He stopped briefly over Rose Weasley's cauldron, and nodded, impressed. "Best I've seen today," he said. "Tied with Finch-Fletchley, I think."
He crossed over to Albus's potion, and gave an impressed nod. "Not bad at all here, either. So, class, there is a very important component to the Essence of Thunder that is not explained in the textbook. You need to really enjoy potion-making—your emotion needs to be positive and strong—in order for this potion to properly work. People who were bored out of their minds during this exercise will be easy to spot." He gave a nod at Riley Andersen and Scott Waters, who had been talking for most of the class about how they shouldn't be working this hard on their first day. Their potions were grumbling less like thunder and more like an annoyed human.
"The thunder requires feeding from the human mind, which is why you poke it with your wand. You channel the positive emotion into the cauldron, and the potion responds; the look and the sound of the Essence of Thunder is only as intense as the drive one has to successfully complete the potion.
"You all receive full marks for this class, because, unless you had absolutely zero drive, you completed this potion. Therefore it is almost more impressive to have created a bad potion, because you put aside your irritation for the task and completed it despite your personal feelings. This is not, of course an excuse to hold a grudge against the class.
"I'm going to announce the top five in our class, which I have noted by the quality of the potions. It is important to me that the less talented portion of my students know the identity of the people to whom they should turn when they need help. Fifth, Sylvester Alamandrine. Fourth, Scorpius Malfoy. Third, Albus Potter. Second, Abigail Quinn. First, Rose Weasley. Have a good day."
Professor Valon sat back down and reopened his magazine, and set his feet back on his desk.
The class once again exchanged glances—was that a dismissal? It was so sudden, and awkward. Looking down at their cauldrons, they noticed that their potions had all vanished. Apparently they were dismissed. Professor Valon seemed at the moment to be one of the better teachers, but a very awkward person.
O
Albus was pointed out in halls constantly as he passed, and he assumed he was the subject of many whispers that broke out wherever he walked. But after seeing what Scorpius Malfoy had to endure—after walking out of Potions, he was again harassed, this time by a group of Ravenclaws—he didn't mind it as much as he thought he would. He was proud of his father now, rather than resentful about the standards that had been set for him.
He returned to Gryffindor common room with his class after a healthy dinner; all of them were jittering excitedly about the day, except for Exorian Wilcox, who looked slightly pale as he perched himself on the edge of a table and stared at his feet for a moment before wandering up to the first years' dormitory.
Albus was concerned for Exorian, and he went up to the dormitory to check on his classmate. Exo was lying in his four-poster bed, staring at the ceiling with a weary look on his face.
"You all right?" asked Albus, stopping a few feet away.
"Yeah, I'm all right," said Exorian in possibly the most unconvincing manner possible.
Albus didn't say anything, and Exo rolled over in his bed and sighed. "I'm just frail, is all. I'm going to bed early tonight."
"Now?" Albus stared. "We just had dinner—"
"Good night, Albus."
Albus shrugged, and he left Exo alone.
O
"You think what?"
"I think Exo's a werewolf," whispered Scott excitedly to Albus. "Hear his dad yesterday? Coming over? Whispering to him? Exo's frail? He'll probably miss a handful of classes? And I heard that werewolves start to look a little sick right before a full moon. Tonight's a full moon!"
Albus glanced furtively at Exo, who was barely eating and indeed looked, in his father's words, quite "frail."
"We're at the two-mark," Wilcox had whispered to Exo. The two-mark?
Two days from the full moon?
"Doesn't it make sense?" said Riley, a little too loudly. "He went to bed early yesterday because he's not going to get much sleep tonight, is he?"
"That's right!" said Scott.
And then, as if the universe was doing its best to give them every hint possible, Wilcox strode up from behind them and clapped a hand on his son's shoulder again, whispering in his ear. Exo kept mumbling words back at him like "fine" and "stop," and after about thirty seconds, Wilcox left and rejoined the staff table.
"He's checking up on his little cub," grinned Riley.
Scott looked down at his schedule. "Well, we'll find out tonight, won't we?" he said. "Exo has to sleep in our dorms. If he spends the night in the hospital wing, we'll know for sure."
"And we got Astronomy at eleven o'clock tonight, too," said Riley. "I bet his dad's gonna tell Professor Obbin that Exo's too 'frail' to make the class!"
Riley had a look on his face as if nothing in the world would please him more than Exo transforming into a wolf.
"I hope he's not gonna keep sleeping in our dorms if he's a werewolf," said Scott nervously.
Albus narrowed his eyes. "That's terrible," he said. "It's not his fault if he is!"
"I know it's not his fault, but I don't really feel comfortable sleeping in the same room as someone who might bite my throat open!" said Riley, again too loudly; this time, Exo glanced up from his plate and looked at the opposite wall, inclining an ear towards their conversation.
"You need a volume knob," said Scott. "Shut up, will you?"
"Hah, but he reacted," said Riley more quietly, jabbing a thumb over at the headmaster's son. "He reacted, he knows it's true!"
Hundreds of owls then soared into the Great Hall, carrying letters and packages of forgotten items from home. Albus looked up, eager to catch a glimpse of Taya, and sure enough, the family owl was bearing down on him from the ceiling now. She was an unremarkable brown owl, rather homely-looking, in fact, but Harry liked having owls that weren't too recognizable. Albus thought he knew why.
Taya was carrying two letters. She landed down next to Albus and allowed him to unravel the letter from her left leg, and then she took off again and landed next to James and gifted him the other letter. Then she gave a few hacking coughs and took off again. She was holding up even worse than Flibley… As much as Albus wanted a new owl, he hoped the two would last as long as they could.
He opened the letter, which was of course from home, and he began to read.
Dear Albus,
How are you? How was your first day of classes? Are you enjoying yourself? Are you comfortable? Are you happy? Am I asking too many questions? Your mother wanted to write this letter, but she misses you very much and I was afraid she might try to convince you to come home for another year.
We love you very much and hope that your Hogwarts days are as enjoyable as they can be. Missing you very much! Here… I guess I'll hand the quill over to your mother now.
Hi, Al! How are you? How was your first day of classes? Oh, your father already wrote the same exact thing! Oops. Well, you only have to answer us once.
Write back to us after you're done with classes tonight and tell us all about how everything is going! Unless you have homework to do, of course. And don't forget to take care of yourself. Remember that Hagrid is coming up to visit the school on Friday, and he invited you to tea! And give Neville our love, because I suspect that James won't.
I miss you so much and I can't wait to see you again, but don't listen to your father, he always exaggerates, I want you to have a fulfilling education and make lots of new friends! See you at Christmas!
Love, Your Mother and Father
Albus smiled and pocketed the letter to answer it after classes. It was time for Herbology with Hufflepuff, and the table was getting up, including Exo, who was still looking pale and delicate, examining his fingernails as if he knew that they would soon be turning into claws…
O
Herbology was another class that seemed like it might take a while to get into full swing. Professor Longbottom, however, was instantly popular as a teacher. He introduced himself to the class, and Kolby asked if it was true that he was the landlord of the Leaky Cauldron. Professor Longbottom confirmed the rumor, and then requested that they all address him as "Lord Longbottom."
They just walked through the introduction of Eleven Hundred Magical Herbs and Fungi during the shorter class, so there wasn't a ton of time to get to know their professor yet; but what impression he did make was good, as Albus could gauge from the mood of the Gryffindors as they left for their second Charms class.
Throughout Charms, which was more theory, and Potions, which was a double period of theory, Albus couldn't help but build his excited anticipation for Transfiguration and Professor Desulgon. He packed his bag at the end of Potions with a big smile. He had a feeling that Transfiguration would be different than his other classes. Transfiguration wouldn't be all theory and books. Professor Desulgon would definitely get them doing some magic.
They filed into the classroom, where the Ravenclaws were already sitting down in the desks on the left. Albus took a seat in the middle next to Alec, and they grinned at each other. Professor Desulgon wasn't in the room, but they heard his voice a moment later.
"I shouldn't think there's any reason why you wouldn't be able to do everything just as well. I'll give you as much help as you need, I know what you mean, it would be very difficult for you to transform something into an object you've never been able to feel completely… Seeing a picture is usually how we do it…"
Dalton Desulgon walked into the room and yelled, "Here it is," into the hallway behind him; Parker Pullman walked in shortly after. Professor Desulgon put a hand on his arm and directed Parker to an open desk; then, he walked straight through his desk like a ghost and sat down in a chair on the other side.
"TRANSFIGURATION!" he shouted as loud as possible; half the class jumped, and he smiled widely. "Transfiguration! The trickiest sort of magic you will attempt, I think. Transfiguration is the art of changing the structure of an object; it includes such topics as Transformation, Vanishment, and Conjuration. Apparition would also fit into this category, but it is taught by Ministry officials and not in the general classroom. Transfiguration is a precise and exact discipline, and some of you will be naturally more adept at this subject than others.
"Who knows the difference between Transfiguration and Charms?"
Nearly everyone in the class raised their hand. Alec was among the few who didn't.
It looked like Professor Desulgon was scanning the room and taking note of who was not raising their hands, rather than who was.
He called on Holly Glissendale, who answered that Charms was the art of giving properties to an object, while Transfiguration was the art of changing them. Professor Desulgon nodded, and then asked another question.
"I would like now to see who knows what Transfections are, and if anybody can name the four most common types?"
Professor Desulgon smiled when Rose Weasley raised her hand. Everyone else gave confused stares. Albus was wondering if this was a strategy that Professor Desulgon was using to learn about the class—Professor Valon had said that he wanted to know who was the strongest in their class. By asking a question to which nearly everybody knew the answer, and then a question to which nearly nobody knew the answer, Professor Desulgon had already figured out who the strongest and weakest students probably were.
When Professor Desulgon called on Rose Weasley, she blushed slightly and coughed for a moment before giving her answer. "Transfections are magical afflictions that trigger human Transfiguration under certain conditions… sometimes voluntarily, sometimes not. The four most common types are, in order, werewolves, Animagi, Metamorphmagi, and Botanimagi."
"That was a beautiful answer," said Professor Desulgon, and Rose blushed deeper. "Indeed. There are many other types of Transfections, but almost all of them are single cases that developed under unusual circumstances, like the witch Betty Breese, who tried to become an Animagus and changed her mind to become a Botanimagus, but instead became a dog with a tree for a head.
"You'll go over Transfections in more detail in your third year and up—which raises the question, how on Earth did you know enough to give that thorough of an answer, Miss Weasley?"
Rose sank a little bit in her seat, but Professor Desulgon seemed to be just thrilled that she gave the answer she did. He then slipped the cuffs of his robe together, and when he pulled his hands out, he was holding not one but two wands.
"Ebony, eleven inches, core of dragon heartstring," he said, giving the wand in his left hand a flick. "This was my first wand. I had it matured in Frostflame at about the same time that I purchased my second wand, rowan, eleven-and-a-quarter inches, matured in water. A skilled witch or wizard could look at my wand and tell me immediately that I have a strength in Transfiguration. It's not that some wands are better for Transfiguration than others; rather, some wands are drawn in a predictable way to a witch or wizard who is skilled in Transfiguration. So I'd like you to take out your wands and tell me your wand's wood, length, core, and maturation process, and I'll use that to gain a general idea of who in this class might need a little work."
He started at the other end of the room, with Rose.
"Walnut, twelve-and-three-quarter inches, unicorn hair, matured in flame," she said a little breathlessly.
Professor Desulgon plucked her wand from her hand and waved it once. "Goodness, that's flaccid," he said. "I suspect you're a child prodigy, then?"
Rose turned redder than her cousins' hair.
"You and that Finch-Fletchley," he said, shaking his head. "You couldn't be more different in your wands, though, his being… pear and ramora bone… matured in water. Whatever the wand, I expect great things from you two."
He went through almost all of the Gryffindor's wands before he reached Albus in the middle of the room. After examining the spruce wand of Riley Andersen, who sat in front of Albus, he gestured for Albus's wand.
"Silver lime, Devil's Snare tendril, fourteen inches," said Albus as he handed over his wand for examination. "Matured in Frostflame."
"Wands are truly getting longer these days," said Professor Desulgon, furrowing his brow. "And I'm sure I misheard you, could you say the wood and core again?"
"Silver lime and Devil's Snare tendril," said Albus again.
"Goodness," said Professor Desulgon, staring. "We should bump you up a year." He placed the wand back down on Albus's desk. "I know your family, mostly, and I think the answer to this question is 'no,' but, do you have any Seers in your immediate family?"
"N…no," said Albus, surprised.
"You could very well be one. Class!" He suddenly addressed the room at large. "Just a small announcement… Don't get on the wrong side of this kid." He handed Albus back his wand. "You'll regret it in a few years."
He moved to Exorian and stopped cold.
He leaned down to whisper in Exo's ear. "Hospital wing, now. Out you go."
Exo winced and looked as if he was going to ignore this order, but then heaved a sigh and pushed himself out of his chair.
"Your father explained your condition to me," Professor Desulgon continued in a low voice that Albus could still barely hear. "You need to get to Madam Birchbaum before you collapse. Do you need me to walk you?"
"No," Exo snapped, and made as much of an effort as he could to appear perfectly normal. He gathered his bag and walked mechanically out into the hall.
When Albus turned around, he saw Riley staring at him, facing backwards. Riley raised an eyebrow and tilted his head, jabbing a finger out into the hallway and then making a scary face that was obviously supposed to mean, "Werewolf."
"Exo won't be gone long," said Professor Desulgon, and Riley turned around to shoot an intrigued glance back at the doorway. Professor Desulgon continued his trip around the classroom, and took Alec's wand next.
"Larch and manticore spike," said Alec, and Professor Desulgon gave a heaving laugh so heavy that he started to cough.
Alec frowned. "What?"
"Nothing, nothing," said Professor Desulgon. "Unusual combination. You should think about joining the dueling club we'll have running after Christmas. Length and maturation?"
"Nine and three quarter inches, lightning. I think the rigidity scale was four."
"Indeed. I'm going to need to keep an eye on you."
Alec seemed to be at odds as to whether to take that as a compliment or something about which to worry.
When Professor Desulgon was finished, he clapped his hands together. "Let's make a deal," he said. "Today we'll have a bit of a class activity, but no magic—but we can do magic during tomorrow's double period. Deal?"
The class nodded its assent, and they did a little activity with their textbooks where Professor Desulgon asked a question, and then they had to find the answer in the textbook. He awarded a point per question to the House of the student who got it. What he apparently didn't expect was that Rose knew half the answers without even having to look, and she knew the location of the other half of the answers in the textbook. When it became clear that Rose was owning the competition, Professor Desulgon gave them all copies of a different book for the class and began asking far more complicated questions. Rose still got fifty percent of the questions by herself, but the Ravenclaws were able to at least get a few points off of her.
"That's twenty-four points for Gryffindor," said Palila Bell, giving Rose a fist bump. "Nice going."
"Oh, I have to be modest," said Rose complacently. "The boys got one or two…"
"Hey, I don't spend all my time with my nose ten feet deep in my book," snapped Riley. "I have a life. And more than one friend."
Rose huffed and turned away, but Albus caught sight of her lip twitching and her eyes closing.
Albus was about to go console her, but Eben Brzunejsky and Kolby Mirabatch got there first.
"Don't listen to him," Eben muttered out of the corner of his mouth as he passed.
"He won't be so smug when the grades roll in," said Kolby, patting her on the shoulder.
Already, on their second day together, Albus was getting to know his fellow Gryffindors. In a word, Riley was abrasive. He and Scott Waters were good friends, and Scott was simply quirky. Kolby and Eben were good friends, too; they were both very friendly and likeable, but Kolby was bouncy and outgoing, whereas Eben was soft-spoken and meek. There seemed to be a slight war going on, Riley and Scott against Eben and Kolby. They competed with each other constantly, and didn't seem to tolerate each other's company much.
Jonah Baxter-Thornton was best friends with Toby Adonax, but they comingled often with Albus, Parker Pullman, and Exo Wilcox. Jonah and Toby had a bit of an arrogant air about them that Albus seemed to associate with Slytherin—then again, Jonah was from a Slytherin family. But they were very agreeable kids, overall. Parker was a jokester, and Exo was just hard to figure out.
After dinner, he wrote out a response to his parents; when eleven o'clock was about to come around, he sent it via Flibley as he walked to Astronomy. Exo was not in the Gryffindor common room.
Riley was looking conceited as they entered the Astronomy tower, and he looked around at Albus, flicking his eyebrows up here.
"Guess which little wolf hasn't shown up to class yet," he said to Albus, flashing a toothy smile. Then he jabbed a thumb over his shoulder, where a window framed the full moon.
"It could still be a coincidence," said Albus. "You can't judge this by one full moon…" He thought about all the evidence, though, and he felt like Riley was right.
"Oh come on," said Riley. "Could it be any more—"
His jaw dropped, and the words caught in his throat.
Exo was climbing through the ladder into the tower, pulling up Parker Pullman behind him. Professor Obbin clambered up behind the last two Gryffindor boys, and closed up the ladder. Exo was looking fully recovered, entirely healthy, and entirely furless.
"Hi," said Exo to Albus. "What's up, Al?"
He turned and addressed Riley, who was still staring at him. "Yeah, I heard you at breakfast," he said. "Look at that beautiful full moon out there! Then, look back at me… Still got any problems?"
Riley just kept staring in disbelief.
"I'll take that as a 'no,'" said Exo. He was talking much louder than normal, and glaring at Riley with much more force than Albus expected. "So why don't you shut up until you can prove these ridiculous accusations you're making?" He stepped into the corner and leaned against the wall, waiting for class to start.
Albus felt a hand on his face, and realized a moment later it was Parker, who was trying to find him. "What's with Exo?" asked Parker when he recognized Albus. "He sounds angrier than I've usually heard him."
"He looks it, too," said Albus, and left it at that; he felt silly for believing the rumor so quickly, felt like he had betrayed Exo's friendship. He looked over at Riley Andersen, who was still sneaking glances at Exo as if the latter was still liable to transform at any moment.
And still, Exo seemed angrier at Riley than Albus would have expected. Maybe he had a sore spot when it came to werewolves, perhaps a family member who had the affliction. He'd have to ask Exo sometime, but definitely not now, when Exo was still simmering in the corner about the accusations.
Albus glanced back at Parker. "Aren't you supposed to be exempted from Astronomy?"
"I only came because I wanted to know where the Astronomy Tower was in relation to everything else at Hogwarts," said Parker. "I like knowing my way around. And I figured I'll just listen in on the first class. I want to know what stars are."
Albus's eye twitched, and suddenly he was extremely grateful for his ability to see. It was something he would have to remember not to take for granted.
O
Astronomy was difficult, due to the memorization involved. It would have been very boring if it wasn't difficult, though, so at least it kept them all engaged. With the conclusion of Tuesday, Albus had now experienced most of his classes at least once, and had a pretty good idea to which ones he was going to be looking forward the most—Herbology and Transfiguration were definitely at the top, and Potions actually looked like a lot of fun, too.
The only classes that he had not yet attended were Acclimatization, on Friday, and Flying, which started the Friday after that. Albus suspected, from what he heard through Exo, that Acclimatization wasn't really a class, so his Fridays looked like a really light workload. There was only History of Magic in the morning and a double period of Herbology which would probably be fun—the double class periods seemed to be the time when most of the application parts of the classes were practiced.
Exo had to spend Tuesday night in the hospital wing, even after attending Astronomy, but he had now thrown out the possibility of being a werewolf—he really was just frail. He reappeared for Wednesday's classes looking even worse than he did during Transfiguration. Albus sometimes wished he had the courage to ask Exo what exactly his "condition" was; whatever it was, it seemed to be something that made Exo very uncomfortable, so Albus respected his classmate's boundaries and kept his curiosity to himself (lest Exo explode at him like he did at Riley).
When Friday finally rolled around, and Albus had paid as much attention as he could to his morning History of Magic lesson, he used his free period to walk down to the gamekeeper's hut, where Rubeus Hagrid, the gamekeeper during Harry's days, was visiting Faustulus Earle. Hagrid had moved to France and married, and was the gamekeeper at Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, but he missed Hogwarts so much that he visited yearly to see his successor and visit with his friends' kids. Albus knocked on the door, and the jovial land-mass that was Hagrid let him in with a roar of delight.
One corner of the room looked like it was on fire, with the flaming red heads of Molly, Lucy, and Louis Weasley. Teddy Lupin was also there, sitting very close to Victoire at the table, his hair a bright turquoise, clashing with Victoire's and Dominique's stunning blonde hair. Freddie and Roxanne Weasley were standing in the corner, talking and laughing; James was sitting at Teddy's other side, pestering him; and Rose knelt in the corner, sipping tea and petting Tippy, the adorable little Pomeranian that belonged to the kindly school caretaker, Alpheus Boderight.
Hagrid and Earle were drinking and talking, and Albus got the sense that the party was already in full swing; but even as he sat down, Freddie, Roxanne, Lucy, Molly, James, Louis, and Dominique all had to leave. Victoire apparently had a free period, and when everyone left and the amount of open space in the hut tripled, Victoire and Teddy squeezed closer together anywhere. James looked back and grinned as the door swung shut.
Albus didn't really know what to do—Hagrid and Earle were talking up a storm about the new curriculum—so he took some tea and went to help pet Tippy. The little dog was the most adorable thing he'd ever seen, and he was a cat person; he scratched behind Tippy's ear and the dog panted his happy approval.
They got involved in a little bit of the conversation when Hagrid asked how classes were going, and Charlie Weasley showed up for some tea, too, but overall it was an uneventful party, until they all left for Acclimatization. Albus waved goodbye to Hagrid, and set off for the castle with Rose when something caught his eye and he stopped.
"Tippy?" he asked, looking out into the Forbidden Forest. He had seen the little dog wandering around the edge of the trees.
"Albus?" asked Rose, stopping, looking where he was looking into the forest.
The dog was nowhere to be seen now—it must have meandered further into the forest. Albus ran back to the cabin and threw open the door; Hagrid and Earle were sitting at the table. Hagrid was startled by Albus slamming the door open again, but Earle seemed to expect it (Albus remembered that Earle could read auras, and must have been able to see him coming).
"I just saw—" Albus started, and then he stopped, for Tippy was curled up in a ball at Earle's feet.
"Saw what?" asked Earle and Hagrid at the same time.
"Tippy," finished Albus. "He was walking around the Forbidden Forest, I just saw it! He disappeared into the trees."
"Tippy's jus' a normal dog," said Hagrid. "He don' teleport or nothin'… does he?"
"No," said Earle. "I can tell you're in genuine distress, but I don't think you can be sure it was him, Albus. Tippy's been in here the whole time."
"If it wasn't Tippy, it was definitely the same kind of dog as Tippy," Albus said. "I definitely saw something that looked exactly like him."
"I don't think anyone else here has a dog," frowned Earle. "And nothing in the forest would take Tippy's form, much less be out in the open like that, right at the forest's edge. I'll look around, but you should get to class, shouldn't you?"
Albus nodded and turned back around to sprint up to the castle so he wouldn't be late to his first Acclimatization class. He definitely saw a dead ringer for Tippy, though, and he wondered what it could have been.
O
When he arrived at Acclimatization, he found the Gryffindors and Slytherins crowded around Helio Wilcox, who was beaming around at all of them. "Welcome!" he yelled. "Welcome to Acclimatization, and welcome to Hogwarts! You are probably wondering what Acclimatization will be. Or, my son has told all of you already! That's all right, it doesn't need to be a surprise.
"The word 'acclimatization' means, in this case, to become comfortable with something. I'm here every Friday to help you get comfortable with Hogwarts! This class, like the mentoring program, is a part of PEEP.
"Let us walk a tour of the castle and the grounds. We're going to get to know every corner of the castle by the term's end! I apologize for rushing you, but we do have a limited time."
With that, they all departed and roamed the halls of the castle, learning the locations of the library, the hospital wing, the staffroom, the teachers' offices… Wilcox talked through all of the tour, but during the tour of the grounds, Albus wasn't paying much attention. He was scanning the edge of the forest, trying, unsuccessfully, to see again what he had seen as he left Hagrid's.