Disclaimer: I do not own and am not associated with Hogwarts Legacy. All characters, settings, and ideas belong to their respective owners. I write this story solely for the purpose of improving my creative writing skills.
Author's Note: This is a teaser chapter. Chapter uploads will be very slow for now [May 2nd, 2023]. I have full intentions of finishing this story within around 1 year [~May 2024]. This is my main creative writing project, but I am not a fast writer. This story will be plot centric, not a rewriting of Hogwarts Legacy, with fluffy light moments. The relationship between Prof. Sharp and the female lead may not develop beyond friendship.
Without further ado, please enjoy!
-o-
It all began with his missing healing potion; an exceptionally potent healing potion. Aesop Sharp couldn't believe that it was gone. No one should have been able to steal it, except maybe a ghost. No one should have been able to find it in the hidden compartment within his desk. And no one should have known that it existed.
A week later, he found its bottle on his table with a thank you note attached. It read, "Sorry." and "Thank you." on the second line. What kind of thief apologizes and then says, "Thank you"? It's not as if he had given his most potent potion away. It was stolen. Maybe the thank you was for healing the thief since it was a healing potion. And so the next question was, "Why did this thief need such a potent healing potion?" He inspected the handwriting on the note. Too perfect. Almost as if a typewriter had written it. For the next few weeks, he knew he'd be trying to match it with his students' homework. But could it have belonged to one of his colleagues? But then why would they steal it? He most certainly would have offered it if any of his colleagues requested it.
Aesop Sharp wished that he had been faster at returning to his classroom that day. He had seen a student quickly leave his classroom. But he only saw their back. Black hair. Most likely female. But some boys had longer hair. He should have chased after them. But when he called out, they didn't turn back. He knew he was intimidating. And it could have been one of his students just retrieving a forgotten textbook or bag. If he had stopped them that day, he wouldn't have to solve this silly mystery that without a doubt piqued his Auror interest.
For the next few weeks, he had his eyes set on one suspect. A female student, 7th year, who never piqued his interest before. Black hair, quiet. Mysterious. Perfectly average in his class. Perfectly average potions. Standard responses. He actually never bothered calling on her after the first few times because she would always provide a boring proper concise answer.
He noticed something one day, when he stared longer at the student and focused hard enough, he felt as if he saw her facial features more clearly as if through a fog. It was hard to describe, but he had seen this before. There's a charm that could prevent one from being noticed. This charm is very useful for spying and a lot of underhanded illegal activities. This student had it active during his entire class. It was a hard spell to maintain. It was a charm that would influence everyone around the user so that they wouldn't think twice about the user and stronger variations could even make one forget the user.
And so, as strange as it was, Professor Sharp decided to monitor this student more closely even outside his classroom. He could have easily called her out on the charm. But in a way, the charm she had on wasn't actually harmful to others. It was a weak charm. But it did prevent her from being noticed by the untrained eye. So maybe this girl was just incredibly shy or more likely trying to hide. Aesop wanted to know more. Perhaps out of boredom.
It felt slightly strange keeping a watchful eye on a female student. It was surprisingly hard to find this student outside of his class and so he had to follow her right after his class ended. He hated to admit it, but the girl knew how to walk fast and it pained him to think that he had trouble keeping up. He didn't have any actual proof that the thief was this girl. If he did, he would have immediately called her out and sent her to Headmaster Black.
This girl was perfectly average and alone. He almost never saw her in the dining hall. She ate her food and left. Talked to almost no one. A 7th year with no friends at all. She hid away in the library. Went to all her classes. Left the castle sometimes. Always came back before curfew.
He finally decided to request her student profile from Professor Weasley. Perfectly average, but near perfect grades. Slytherin. Started Hogwarts from year one. Silver hair. Blue eyes. A scion of an ancient and noble pureblood house. Her photo was taken when she first started. Staring straight, neutral expression. Regal. Confident. Bright eyed. She was a Slytherin House prefect starting in her third year as a prefect in training. In her fifth year, she stopped being a prefect. Victoria Elizabeth Montague.
Montague. He had heard of the family before. But he felt as if he had heard it more recently. Professor Sharp had only joined Hogwarts the year prior. He had been recovering from his leg injury for the past few years. Depression. Pain. Grief. Guilt. He could barely tolerate his condition let alone read the news and keep up to date with the latest world events. Had he paid more attention to the news, he would have known that the Montagues had made headlines two years prior.
And so, with his interests sufficiently piqued, Professor Sharp decided to take action to find the potion thief.
Step one, take it easy, talk to the potential suspect without arousing suspicion. Sometimes, Professor Sharp would wonder why he was going through such an effort for a single potion he could easily rebrew. The ingredients were on the pricier side. But the time he spent trying to find the culprit greatly exceeded the price of the potion. Talking to this student was surprisingly difficult. What was he supposed to say to an average student? Couldn't critique her homework delivery. Potions hit all the criteria just good enough to score full points. Some students only took half the class time to finish their brew. Some took the whole time. This student was right in the middle. Did he really want to compliment this student for mediocre work?
It also didn't help that her work station was located at the far end corner of his classroom. He would usually walk behind his students to inspect their work: see how they handled the ingredients and tools, inspect the flames. There wasn't enough room in that corner to do that without being too close to her. He kept professional boundaries especially with female students. He would have to make a conscious effort to walk to her cauldron. He usually avoided walking that far if he didn't need to. Imagine having to walk there during each and every class of his day. He hated to admit it, but his leg would be in serious pain if he checked on every corner cauldron student as equally as he did with the students stationed right in front of his desk. In any event, the students who picked the center cauldron were usually the most adept at potions and the most interested in potions.
Today, Professor Sharp decided to pay the corner cauldron a visit. He hated limping. He tried his hardest to reduce it and walk with as much dignity and authority as he could muster. He stood at the foot of the potion table set. Four students were stationed at the table and they all looked up at him with worrying glances as if they were in trouble.
"You should pay more attention to your potions," Professor Sharp lectured flatly. "They don't brew themselves." The students quickly returned to chopping their ingredients. They looked at each other nervously as if they wanted to talk but were too afraid to. Professor Sharp kind of felt bad for them. And a little guilty too for never checking on them to the point where they were walking on eggshells around him.
He focused on his potential suspect, Victoria Elizabeth Montague. Her eyes skimmed back and forth between her ingredients and her potions journal. Incredibly careful with the ingredients and measurements. She didn't have the best techniques for processing her ingredients. Inexperienced cutting, grinding, crushing. She was a little too delicate with some of the ingredients showing that she wasn't familiar with handling them. His only real advice to her was to get more practice. He could instruct her on better techniques for handling the ingredients. But seeing how careful she was, showing her a new technique could potentially ruin her potion if she was too slow to catch on.
"Miss Montague," Professor Sharp said.
"Yes, Professor?" she asked. She looked up at him with inquisitive gray eyes.
"You need more practice handling the ingredients. They aren't all delicate flowers," he advised.
"Yes, sir. I will remember that," she replied. "I will try to be more acquainted with the potion ingredients in the future."
"You should practice brewing more potions in your free time. Your potions are successful but meet the bare requirements to pass. They're mediocre at best," he stated. For a moment, he thought he saw anger in her eyes.
"I apologize for my mediocre potions," she stated curtly. He saw her jaws tighten a little. She was still partially focused on her potion. "I", she paused for a moment. "I'll try harder next time," she said with a small sigh.
"I think you misunderstood my comment. You have the potential to be an amazing potioneer, but you're squandering your potential," he stated. "See me after class." Professor Sharp felt bad distracting her. He could tell that she was honestly trying her best to brew the potion. Why else would she be so careful and focused? He turned around and decided that it would be best to check on the other students as well for the remainder of the class.
"Professor Sharp, you asked to see me," Victoria said. She had finished her potion around fifteen minutes prior to the end of class. She tidied up her station for the rest of class. Professor Sharp would usually dismiss students that finished early as long as their stations were cleaned and their potion successful. He saw it as a reward for good students.
"Yes, Miss Montague. I noticed recently that although your potions are successful. They are fairly weak. I know we don't expect first time potions to be strong and so you get full credit, but you are consistently successful. Most students would have had at least one or two failures. But you have none. So I'm wondering why you aren't striving for more than just mediocre?" Professor Sharp asked.
"If I can be honest?" The student took a long pause.
"Go ahead," Professor Sharp replied.
"I'm simply not interested in potions," she replied. Paused a little. "I try hard in all my classes. But, that means that my time is spread a little thin. I do try to prepare for each potion prior to class. Here's my journal if you care," she pulled out her potions journal and offered it to him. He accepted it. "I know my techniques are lacking. I will try to practice brewing some potions outside of class."
"You're a talented student. Not many can master every class. And it's not expected that a student would get full marks in every course. You're in your final year. If you're not interested in potions, then what are you interested in?" Professor Sharp inquired. This time she took a longer pause before responding.
"I'm interested in," she paused yet again. Was this truly a hard question to answer as a 7th year student? "I don't know, Professor."
"You don't know?!" Professor Sharp questioned a bit rudely. She looked down. Upset. "You must have some skill that you're good at. Something that you put a little extra effort into?" He emphasized 'extra'. He felt like this student was putting the bare minimum effort into all her classes and getting perfect grades because she hit the requirements. Wasted talent.
"I'm mediocre at a lot of things," she looked away when she stated 'mediocre'. "I strive for perfect grades because…" she stopped mid sentence. "Because that's what's expected of me."
"So then what you're saying is that after studying, practicing, and exploring different topics for seven years, you haven't found a single topic that interests you?" Professor Sharp stated in a dull tone with a raised brow.
"Yes, sir," she replied.
"What do you intend to do when you graduate Hogwarts?"
"I will," she sighed out loud this time, "I have to learn how to manage my family estate." Professor Sharp realized that he had forgotten that this girl came from an old wizarding family: old blood, old money. Probably more than enough money that she would be set for life and maybe even several lifetimes if she didn't spend it lavishly.
"You're dismissed. I was going to offer to teach you better potion making techniques had you been interested. But I see that you aren't. I don't waste my spare time on uninterested students," he dismissed her. He wanted to question why she was using a charm to hide her presence, but her uncaring passive attitude was irritating him. He saw her jaws clench slightly and her eyes darkened a little. He had hit a soft spot.
"Thank you for spending your spare time advising me, Professor Sharp. I will try hard not to waste your time in the future," she stated just neutrally and politely enough to sway its sarcastic meaning. They stared at each other for a moment. Each not entirely willing to back down. Although he dismissed her, he was still staring at her with a look close to disdain and disappointment. The first to break eye contact was the girl. For a moment, she looked almost sad.
"If there's nothing more, Professor, I have another class to attend to," she said in a calm but defeated tone. All the previous fight in her was gone. Professor Sharp almost preferred her anger. It was at least different from her passive indifferent attitude.
"I'll write you a note so you won't be marked late," Professor Sharp stated as he pulled out a parchment.
"Thank you, but it's unnecessary. Have a good day, Professor," she replied quietly and quickly left.
In her haste she forgot to grab her potions notebook back. Professor Sharp didn't have a chance to look at it, but he decided to hold on to it and peruse it in his spare time.
He hated her indifferent attitude. She was the least ambitious Slytherin he'd ever met. He hated it the most because she wasn't lacking the foundations to be great. She was gifted with so much potential and she was essentially squandering it into mediocrity. Was asking her interest truly such a hard question to answer? She could have said anything other than "I don't know" and he would have accepted it. She seemed to have thought long and hard about it to come to the conclusion that she didn't care for anything. Was she perhaps interested in forbidden topics, the dark arts? Her constant presence hiding charm was something that either the law used for detective work and spy work or criminals used to hide their trail.
Aside from Miss Montague, his second suspect was the new fifth year student. But after getting caught stealing a feather from his office, the new student never misbehaved again. Correction, he never misbehaved in his class. The fifth year wasn't a primary suspect because he highly doubted that the new student would have known the level of magic to even unlock his desk drawer in the first place especially so early in the school year with a spare wand. He also doubted that the new fifth year would need his potent healing potion because he knew Professor Figgs had been providing the student with all his needs. What use was one healing potion, when Professor Figgs was most likely supplying his new prodigy with all the tools and potions to succeed in their late night adventures. It was an unspoken rule among the staff to just ignore the new fifth year's antics. Professor Figgs always came to the rescue with one excuse after another.
This was a problem that none of the staff wanted to crack. With courses to teach, papers to grade, and students to keep safe, no one truly had the time to spare to chase after the new fifth year. More goblin sightings. Increase in poaching and illicit activities. The potential awakening of ancient magic. Dragons. And the death of a ministry official. Everyone knew the new fifth year was someone special. It would have been impossible for the student to join if he was anything but special. As much as Professor Figgs was trying to keep all his activities under wraps, the walls of Hogwarts were thin and there were eyes and ears everywhere.
Professor Sharp didn't speak directly to his prime suspect, Miss Montague, for the rest of the week. After perusing her notebook, he placed it back on her desk before her next class with him. He was disappointed with her lack of ambition. And he had almost all but lost interest in her. With her grades, she could potentially have unlocked his drawer and found his secret compartment. But it didn't make sense. How did she know that he even had a potent healing potion in the first place hidden away? She was also rich enough that she could just buy the potion in Hogsmeade if she ordered it from Pippins ahead of time.
-o-
Professor Sharp didn't think about the girl until several weeks later when Headmaster Black requested via an owl letter that he should pick another set of prefects to increase security and to keep the students in line. As the Slytherin headmaster, he was in charge of picking two Slytherin prefects. For some reason, he immediately thought about Miss Montague. Maybe it was because she was an easy target. Former prefect. Perfect grades. He may have disliked her, but from an academic standpoint, she was an exceptional student. And so, he called her to his office.
Aesop thought he saw her walk by his classroom when he looked up from his notes. A few moments later he heard a knock by the doorway. Looking up, he saw Victoria Montague. Dress as always in her school attire. Nothing special. No hint of personality. Slytherin green colors. A stark contrast to the new fifth year who almost wore whatever attire he wanted around campus: worn leather jacket over a standard white shirt and black trousers. Dressed a little too casually for Hogwarts.
She walked hesitantly into his classroom towards his circular desk. Her stride became more confident as she stood a good distance from the foot of his table. He hated her concealing charm. It forced him to have to focus on her appearance harder to see her actual facial features. He would remember to get this charm banned at Hogwarts. Normally, no student would bother expending so much magic to keep a charm active throughout the day.
"Professor Sharp, you asked to see me?" Victoria said. He could tell she was trying to remain calm.
"Deactivate that silly concealing charm," Professor Sharp commanded, "It unbecoming of a student to try to stay hidden like that. Especially for a 7th year student." She looked conflicted. Upset. Not meeting his gaze for a brief moment. She stared defiantly for a moment. Then with her right hand she reached towards her shirt collar and tugged her tie slightly loose. With her left hand she had to unbutton the top button of her white collar. With the other hand she grabbed her necklace and pulled it off. The clasps came off easily. Did she just use wand less magic to unclasp her necklace? The necklace had two pendants on it. With the pendant removed, he could see her facial features clearly. Sharp features. Gray eyes. Slight darkness under her eyes.
"Hand me that pendant," Professor Sharp commanded. She hesitated. But walked towards him and handed him her necklace and took a fairly large step back. "Where did you get this?"
"I purchased it, Professor," she replied.
"Why do you need it?", he asked.
"The jade pendant is charmed to conceal my presence. It's a weak charm. And the silver pendant is from Madam Snelling's Tress Emporium. It's charmed to change my hair color," she stated.
"And eye color," Professor Sharp corrected.
"Yes," she replied. If she was uncomfortable, she didn't show it.
"I'll be confiscating this for the remainder of the school year," Professor Sharp stated nonchalantly as he unlocked one of his drawers and was about to drop the necklace in it.
"Wait," Victoria exclaimed, "There's no rules against these items. I'm not the only student who changes their hair color and eye color. And the other charm is truly harmless, it's an extremely minimal charm. It just helps me avoid people."
"It's not harmless," Professor Sharp stated flatly.
"Pardon?", Victoria asked for a longer explanation.
"It's harming you. Simply put, it's preventing your emotional and social development. You can't avoid people forever. What are you trying to hide?", he asked. She looked confused for a moment, but she quickly hid it.
"That's personal," she stated flatly with almost no emotion, clearly drawing a boundary line. For one so young, she sure was good at avoiding personal questions. Why did he even put up the effort trying to get to know this student?
"Fine, keep it. But deactivate it during all your classes. It's irritating trying to see through the illusion," Professor Sharp emphasized 'all'. "Do you agree?"
"Yes, sir," she accepted. She stuck her hand out to retrieve it, but he didn't hand it to her, so she awkwardly retracted her hand.
"I'm holding on to it until the next class to ensure it's safe," he stated. "Regardless this wasn't the topic I had intended to call you in for." Visible disappointment could be seen in her eyes and face. She waited patiently for him to continue. "I called you here because I need another Slytherin prefect." Her eyes slightly widened in confusion with a brow slightly raised.
"I'm not interested, Professor," she stated more quietly than the rest of their conversation.
"Why not?", he asked. She hesitated for just a moment.
"I am busy with my studies, I don't have the extra time to monitor the halls," she stated. Professor Sharp chuckled lightly to himself. This student had been on his nerves since he first suspected her. Perhaps extra responsibilities would be a fitting punishment for her indifferent behavior.
"Unfortunately, you don't have a choice," he stated. "See Professor Weasley in the morning after breakfast, she'll provide you with your assignments and instructions." The girl stood there dumbfounded.
"You're," she started, "You're using the prefect title as a punishment. That's, That's unheard of. It should be an honor and a privilege to be granted the prefect title, for the best students." Why was she defending the title?
"If that's the case, then you should be thrilled to accept it," he replied with a smile. She unconsciously ran her hand through her hair.
"I don't deserve the title, sir," she said.
"Why not?", he asked.
"Because I don't," she replied, emphasizing the last word. There was a sadness in her tone that prevented him from pressing further for more information. He knew he was missing something important in which he'd have to ask his colleagues about.
"Report to Professor Weasley tomorrow morning after breakfast. I'll let her decide if you're worthy or not," Professor Sharp ordered. She nodded.
"Yes, sir," she replied, "Have a good evening, professor," she said politely and left without another word. As she left, he noticed her left hand glide over her hair. He saw her cast a silent spell, most likely a charm to maintain her current hair color and eye color. Without her charmed necklace and pendants, she would have to maintain the charms on her own if she wanted to keep a low profile.
For the male prefect selection, Prof. Sharp picked the Slytherin with the best grade and cleanest track record. The conversation was bland. At least the boy was excited to be a prefect. When he finally finished grading papers, the sky was pitch black. This was his second year at teaching, he wasn't certain how much he should pry into his students' life. It was much easier to listen to their concerns and let them open up to him. But with this student, Miss Montague, if he didn't pry, he would learn nothing. It wouldn't have been an issue except if his detective senses were right this student was hiding something dark and could potentially walk down the wrong path with the wrong influences. It didn't help that he witnessed her carefree usage of wandless, wordless magic. This school year was shaping up to be a difficult one, a huge leap from the previous year.
- End of Chapter 1 -