Albus Dumbledore and the Everlasting Flame

Disclaimer: this is a work of fan fiction based on the worlds created by JK Rowling

"No greater love has man than for the art of learning"

Chapter 4 – Classes Full of Embarrassment

The following morning at breakfast, Albus and the other Gryffindor second years got to meet their new housemaster for the first time. Professor Ryan Rolleston came around with the new timetables just as the second years were tucking into their bowls of porridge. He was a big, stocky man dressed in dashing crimson robes. The edge of his cloak was lined with gold embroidery. He had a mane of brown hair down his neck and a long, graying beard on his chest. Powerfully black eyes gazed down at the second years through half-moon spectacles. But perhaps his most distinctive feature was his eyebrows. They stuck out angrily, much like the eyebrows of an eagle owl. When he spoke, Professor Rolleston did so with a smooth, warm voice.

'I deduce from your size, being neither the smallest group of children in the House, nor taller than any other group, that you are the second years. Am I correct?'

Albus and a few of the others nodded. Most of the Pirates simply stared at Professor Rolleston, bewildered.

'Here are your timetables,' Professor Rolleston continued, unperturbed by the muted response he was getting from the students. 'I am your new Housemaster, Professor Rolleston, but I will be seeing you in Charms class this morning, so proper introductions can wait until then.'

Professor Rolleston placed ten scrolls on the table next to a bowl of pumpkin juice and proceeded on to the next group of Gryffindors. William and Alabastor exchanged looks and a few murmurings about how odd their new Housemaster looked, but Albus was already busy delving into his timetable.

'What a good start to the year!' Albus said. 'We have Charms first followed by Defense Against the Dark Arts.'

'Yes, but pity about double Potions this afternoon,' Victoria added. 'I never liked Professor Rookwood.'

'I only hope that Professor Rolleston is half as good as Professor Prewett was at teaching Charms,' Albus said, looking wistfully up at the staff table, where the elderly witch was stirring her tea with a spell from the tip of her wand.

'At least Professor Solstice should be better than Professor Fudge was,' Mars enthused. 'He worked with Albus' father in Egypt!'

The other Pirates immediately turned to Albus and demanded information on Professor Januar Solstice, but none was forthcoming because Professor Rolleston swooped by and informed them that it was time to head to class. The truth was, Albus knew very little about Professor Solstice. He had only encountered him twice, and one of those times had been when he and Mars had been eavesdropping on Januar's conversation with Archaeon.

The Gryffindor second years arrived at Charms armed with their spell-books. To their dismay, they saw the green robes of Slytherin adorning their imminent class mates.

'Oh, not the Slytherins,' William protested, a touch too loudly.

'Oh, yes, the Slytherins,' Noxious Black parroted back. He was leaning coolly against the wall, a bit displaced from the other nine Slytherins; who seemed, so far as Albus could see, to be eyeing Noxious a little cautiously. Even Noxious' erstwhile companions, Isabella Malfoy and Frederick Bode, were standing away from him.

Albus had the sudden compulsion to do something very brave and outgoing. He had thought about trying to get along better with the Slytherins throughout last year, and it had really been the influence of Noxious that had held him back.

Albus broke away from the Gryffindor first years, marched straight past Noxious and stopped in front of the other nine Slytherins.

'Hello chaps,' Albus said. 'I hope you all had a good summer.'

Albus gave them a smile, which three of the girls and one of the boys returned; and then he spun around and marched back to the other Gryffindors. Noxious gave an audible snort, but fortunately the arrival of Professor Rolleston preceded any possible flare-up between him and Albus.

'Good morning, second years,' Professor Rolleston said. 'Please enter the classroom so that we may begin.'

Once inside, the Gryffindors and Slytherins seated themselves on opposite sides of the room. Albus demonstrated the inclination to sit with the Slytherins, but he was getting increasingly strange looks from William, Alabastor and Victoria in particular, so he took a seat beside Mars instead. Professor Rolleston took up a position at the front of the class and began to speak.

'I am Professor Ryan Rolleston, and I will be teaching you Charms this year. Professor Prewett assured me that you are all proficient with the Standard Book of Spells – Grade One, and that some have even demonstrated aptitude for spells from the Grade Two text. Much as I trust our esteemed Headmistress, I would still like to see a demonstration of your respective abilities, so that I can figure out where I need to focus our attention. A proper grounding in charms work is essential for all other magical specialties. This is your most important subject. Now, when I point to you, please stand, declare your name and perform the charm I ask of you.'

Professor Rolleston pointed to the far end of the class, at one of the Slytherin girls. She had a thin face plastered with a permanently sad look, framed by a crop of almost ludicrously straight brown hair. She stood up nervously.

'M … M … Mary,' she said, '…Pilkington.'

'Very well, meme Mary Pilkington,' Professor Rolleston said, not unkindly, 'levitate the Grade Seven Standard Book of Spells on my desk.'

Mary Pilkington's face grew whiter than it already was. Albus found himself muttering Wingardium leviosa under his breath in the hope that it would help, but he knew she could not hear him. Apparently one of the Slytherins next to Mary did the same thing, because her face suddenly relaxed.

'Wingardium leviosa,' she said, pointing her wand with a swish and a flick at Professor Rolleston's desk. To her dismay, the legs of the desk suddenly lifted into the air. Everything that was on his desk, bottles of ink included, went tumbling to the ground with a smash and a bang as the desk tilted awkwardly. Mary Pilkington dropped her wand, and Professor Rolleston's desk dropped to the ground with a thud, its surface now cleared of everything that had been on it.

'Hmm, not entirely what I asked,' Professor Rolleston said, without a trace of anger in his tone. 'Next time I will ask you to concentrate more wholly on what you are attempting to levitate. Otherwise, that was good, Pilkington.'

Mary gave the girl next to her a surprised look. It soon emerged that Professor Rolleston was very patient. Despite the fact that nobody seemed to have practiced their Charms over the holidays, Professor Rolleston was entirely uncritical. He thanked everyone after they had completed their spell, offered a tip of advice in each case, and proceeded to the next student without making an example of anyone for being below standard. That is, until he reached Albus, the very last student in the class.

'Albus Dumbledore,' Albus said when his turn came to stand and declare his name.

'Ah, Dumbledore,' Professor Rolleston said. His dark eyes narrowed on Albus with interest. 'Please levitate this chair and make it sing.'

It was easily the most difficult request, but nobody in the class, not least of all Albus, doubted that he could do it, having performed a similar series of charms in the very first lesson of their first year.

'Wingardium leviosa,' incanted Albus. He raised the chair up with his wand, and said, 'Aria avis.'

The chair floated in the air, singing happily like a swallow, before Albus set the chair down on the ground again and put an end to its song.

'Several obvious mistakes,' Professor Rolleston said, addressing the rest of the class and not Albus. 'Because his wand is so powerful, and he has so much natural talent, Dumbledore can make things happen without actually performing the correct wand movement, or necessarily incanting the spell correctly. In order to improve, Dumbledore, you need to refine your technique. Only by proper mastery of the basics can you become a master of complex magic.'

Albus felt his cheeks burning and his eyes tingling. He could sense that every one of the Pirates was staring at him right now, but he did not want to meet their gaze. Instead, he stared at the floor, fighting the urge to cry. He had never been more humiliated by a teacher than by his new Housemaster. A powerful dislike was creeping through his bones. This Professor Rolleston had been unnecessarily mean, and had said that Albus was only good because he had a good wand and a bit of talent!

'That is the lesson for today,' Professor Rolleston concluded. 'You are not without remediation, and I can see that Professor Prewett taught you all well. Homework for tonight is to study the charms in Chapter One of your spell-book. I will be testing you on them at the start of the next lesson. You may go. Oh, and, Dumbledore, stay behind for a moment, I wish to speak to you.'

Albus had the urge to yell 'No!' and storm out, but equal to his anger was a desire not to have to face his classmates until his embarrassment had subsided. He continued to stare at the floor while the Gryffindors and Slytherins piled out the door. Professor Rolleston came to loom over Albus' desk.

'Professor Prewett tells me that you have been working from texts as advanced as Grade Three and Four,' Professor Rolleston said. He did not wait for an answer from Albus before continuing; 'now while this is admirable, I still maintain that you need to work on the basics like everyone else. So, for the time being, you will work from Grade Two like your classmates. Is that understood?'

'Yes, sir,' Albus muttered.

'I know you are wondering why,' Professor Rolleston went on. 'There is no mistaking the extent of your capabilities; I could see it in that one demonstration of your wand-work. But the true master knows the very basics of their craft. Do you see where I am coming from?'

'Yes sir.'

'No, I don't think you do,' Professor Rolleston said shrewdly. 'Alas, such is the nature of the schoolboy, too proud and resistant to the best intentions of their teachers. Go on, or you will be late for your next lesson.'

Without glancing at Professor Rolleston, Albus grabbed his school bag and hurried out of the classroom. Apart from the fact that he did not wish to be late for the first Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson, Albus also wanted to put as much distance between himself and Professor Rolleston. He did not like the new Gryffindor Housemaster at all.

'Blimey mate, Professor Rolleston sure gave you a hard time, didn't he?' William said as Albus took a seat beside him in the Defense Against the Dark Arts class. Alabastor leaned across the aisle and ventured a question.

'What did Professor Rolleston want with you after class?' he asked.

'Oh,' Albus said; his brain drawing a blank as he searched for a lie to use, '…er, nothing really. He just wants me to study from Grade Two like everyone else.'

'But that's appalling!' William protested loudly, slamming his fist on his desk. The Ravenclaws all jumped a mile in their seats (Slytherin had gone off to take Herbology with the Hufflepuffs). 'You are by a country mile the best in our year, how can he stop you from doing harder spells?'

'You should complain to Professor Prewett,' Alabastor declared confidently.

'What's this?' asked Jenning Ranger, sidling over from the Ravenclaw side of the class. Albus went purple. His embarrassment would be complete if the Ravenclaws got wind that Albus was being held back by his new Housemaster.

'Oh, nothing, Jenning,' Albus said swiftly, casting a quick dark glance at William and Alabastor to signal that they be quiet. 'We just don't really like our new Housemaster that much, that is all.'

Jenning nodded and returned to his seat looking crestfallen. He kept throwing sideways glances at Albus throughout the lesson. Albus would not realize it, but Jenning was worrying over whether their slender friendship had somehow failed to survive the summer.

'May I have your attention, please,' said a deep voice from the front of the class. The idle chatter in the room ceased, and all eyes turned to the front. There stood a black man in a white robe, with various necklaces and bracelets adorning his person. Professor Januar Solstice looked exactly as Albus remembered him from a brief glimpse in Egypt, except that his clothes looked totally out of place in an English wizarding school. Professor Solstice cleared his throat and said, 'greetings, second years. I am your new Master of Defense Against the Dark Arts. My name is Januar Solstice, but I believe custom dictates that you call me Professor Solstice.'

He beamed, his ivory teeth flashing white against his dark skin. Albus was, for a moment, reminded of the thestrals that drove the Hogwarts carriages, for Professor Solstice's eyes were fiercely white against his black face.

'You may or may not already know that I am an Archaeowizard,' Professor Solstice said. 'I have recently been involved in wizarding digs in Egypt, accompanying the great Archaeon Dumbledore, whose son, I believe, is sitting in this room. Hello, Albus.'

Albus went bright pink and, quite unsure what to do, gave Professor Solstice a tentative wave and said, 'hello.' He felt the heat of his classmates' eyes on his skin again. This was turning out to be a very embarrassing day.

'Now, gleaned from my background in Archaeowizardry,' Professor Solstice continued, 'not to mention my experiences across the world in facing the dark arts, I compiled a book, Principles of Defeating the Dark Arts – A Historical Perspective. This is the text that you were required to purchase according to your book-lists. Am I right in hoping that you all have it with you?'

Everyone reached into their bags and retrieved the heavy tome. It was leather-bound, with ancient Egyptian, Babylonian and Greek symbols painted on the front cover.

'Very good,' Professor Solstice said. 'You may all be wondering why we need to examine the history of defense against the Dark Arts, but it is vital to your development as witches and wizards. Knowing how ancient dark lords fought and how ancient wizards and witches defeated them is fundamental to your understanding of modern magic. After all, ancient magic is what led to modern magic, and in some ways, the differences are small.'

Professor Solstice paused in his speech to pick up a scepter on his desk. Albus gasped, and a few heads in the class turned. It was a long, twisted staff comprised of two intertwining snakes and ending in ruby eyes. It had belonged to Imhotep.

'This is the staff of a very ancient dark lord,' Professor Solstice said; hardly containing a smile at Albus' obvious recognition, 'the same dark wizard that Albus defeated in the crypts of Egypt just a few months ago. Now, you can all appreciate that Albus may have been a little lucky to have thought of transfiguring a feather into a phoenix; and even luckier that the charm worked and saved his life. But what Albus could not have known is that he was using the correct principle for defeating the Dark Arts. Can anyone think what this might be?'

Nearly everyone in the class was speechless. Even Albus did not really understand what Professor Solstice meant by the 'correct principle'. Jenning Ranger, normally the first to put his hand in the air, was strangely still.

'I will tell you,' Professor Solstice said. 'Imhotep was born of a dark and ancient evil, but the phoenix is born of a good and ancient force. Albus countered Imhotep's rise with a magical being that was effectively Imhotep's opposite. And that is the underlying principle for defeating all the Dark Arts – the use of the opposite magic.'

Albus nodded sagely, determined to understand what Professor Solstice was talking about even though it sounded very complicated for his young brain.

'This staff contained Imhotep's power, or vast amounts of it,' Professor Solstice continued. 'I am only showing you out of interest, I am actually going to use it to teach the seventh years …' (the class moaned loudly at this point) '… but I want to demonstrate how magic can be hidden in objects, because this is going to be an important theme in your second year lessons.'

Professor Solstice placed the staff on his table again and stepped back. He lifted up his wand and started muttering incantations over the staff. Within moments, blood was streaming out of the ruby red eyes of the snake head. It poured onto the ground and formed a gooey slop there. Jenning fainted. The girls shrieked and at least three climbed on to their chairs to avoid the blood. Albus, William and Alabastor were particularly curious, and leaned over their desks to watch, rapt, as the blood formed the shape of a head.

'Is that … is that Imhotep?' Albus said, recognizing the thin and skeletal face of the Egyptian dark wizard.

'A shadow of him,' Professor Solstice said. 'Later on I will destroy it, but I wish to show all the students in the other years as well.'

Professor Solstice performed the counter-curse that returned the blood back where it had come from. He set the staff down again, walked over to rejuvenate Jenning, and then addressed the class again.

'That was far more complicated magic than we will do this year,' he said, 'but a demonstration nonetheless of the power that can be contained within objects. That form of Imhotep could have materialized into something resembling a human had I not been in full control of it with my wand. It could easily have taken up its staff and started performing magic with it. While it would never be as powerful as Imhotep was himself, it remains a dangerous incantation. The lesson for today is: never trust a magical object. Great power can lie within, and unless you are prepared to defend yourself against it, you play a dangerous game by toying with Pandora's Box.'

Nobody knew what Pandora's Box was, so Professor Solstice declared that their homework was to read Chapter One of Principles of Defeating the Dark Arts – A Historical Perspective, which he said would explain what it was. Then he dismissed the class, and the Gryffindors trooped down to lunch.

'That was a brilliant lesson,' William exhaled.

'Absolutely,' Mars agreed, coming up alongside Albus, who was strangely subdued. Mars was the first to notice. He said, 'what is wrong with you, Albus?'

'I am not sure,' Albus said. 'The staff of Imhotep brought back some pretty awful memories, to tell you the truth. But I think I am more peeved by Professor Rolleston.'

'Still not over that, mate?' asked William. 'Tell you what, how about we come up with a Pirates prank to teach the old geezer a lesson. We can't have our new Housemaster treating the great Albus Dumbledore with disrespect!'

Albus flushed pink again, but grinned all the same. He forgot completely about Professor Prewett's stern instruction against bad behaviour from the night before. All he could think of presently was ways to get back at Professor Rolleston for making him feel stupid in front of the other second years.

'I think we may need your invisibility cloak soon,' Albus said, cackling wickedly. The other boys did the same, their laughter echoing down the halls as they made their way to lunch.

Author's Note: Ongoing thanks to my reviewers. Readers, please review. I welcome any feedback, positive or negative, as I try to make this story increasingly good for all of you.