Alter Forte: Chapter 8
Brian woke early the next morning, eager to start his first full day at Hogwarts. After a quick shower, he decided to explore the castle a bit, ignoring the dirty looks the other early risers in Slytherin sent his way as he left the common room. Roaming through the dungeons as he explored, he couldn't help but be impressed by the castle.
"It's been around for around a thousand years, but it's not just still standing, it's thriving," Brian thought. Despite the castle being as old as it was, there wasn't any of the wear and tear he would've expected to see in a structure so old, it all looked as if it had been built far more recently, no doubt thanks to the castle's impressive magical protections. As he explored the dungeons passed by several doors that seemed to be magically sealed shut which he assumed were storage rooms or unused classrooms, before trying to decide where he should head next.
"Let's see, where to go first… I'd like to visit the library before classes but I don't have a clue where it is. I wish my books covered a location spell of some sort, you'd think that would be a spell first years at Hogwarts would need to know. I'll stop by the Great Hall for breakfast first, someone there will know," He decided after a moment. However he quickly realized a small problem with his plan.
"Where the hell is the staircase?" He thought to himself, realizing he had no idea where in the dungeons he was. With a sigh, Brian began walking again, resigned to wandering until he found something that looked familiar.
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Luckily for Brian, he only had to walk for a few minutes before he started to recognize parts of the dungeon, and from there it had been easy enough for him to find his way toward the staircase that he had taken down to the dungeons the previous night. As he finally reached the staircase and started walking up it he noticed several other Slytherins that were further ahead. The group seemed to hear Brian's footsteps as he drew closer, making them turn toward the source of the noise. Spotting Brian, one of the group, a boy Brian estimated to be a third year couldn't resist commenting.
"Oh, it's the mudblood. Do try and keep your distance. I wouldn't want your filth somehow getting on my clothes," The boy said with a sneer, turning away before he was even finished speaking as he resumed walking. The boy's two companions followed suit, walking away with him.
"Honestly, I can't believe he had the nerve to show his face. A mudblood in Slytherin! I'd be too ashamed to leave my room!" The boy continued to his friends, making sure he was loud enough for Brian to hear.
"That's your first mistake Adrian. Mudbloods don't know the meaning of shame," Another of the group interjected as they continued walking away, finally reaching another level of the staircase and heading out of sight.
"If these kids think a few childish remarks are going to bother me, they have another thing coming. Though the temptation to grab all their ankles and make them fall using a bit of wandless magic was pretty strong," Brian thought to himself with a laugh, imagining the image of them all falling simultaneously. Unfortunately, with him being the only one around they would've suspected him immediately if he'd acted on the urge, even if no spell would've shown up on his wand to prove he'd done it.
Once he felt the group should've been comfortably far away, Brian resumed his walk to the Great Hall, thinking over what books he'd try to look for at the library first. Still, at the back of his mind, he couldn't help but think about just how deeply ingrained the bigotry against muggleborns seemed to be.
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After a quick breakfast in the mostly empty Great Hall where Brian made sure to sit as far as possible from the few Slytherins already present at his house table, Brian looked around the hall, considering who he should ask for directions. He looked mournfully at the, sadly empty, High Table as he continued looking around the room.
"Let's see… anyone that looks like a prefect? Well, there is her," Brian thought, his eyes coming to a rest on the female prefect that had led the Slytherin first-years to their common room the previous night, Grace Rosier. She was sitting in the middle of the main group of Slytherins, talking quietly with a girl sitting next to her. Still, he'd rather not ask a Slytherin if he didn't have to, the risk of running into a pureblood supremacist would be lower that way. He scanned around the hall once more, looking for any other options, but finding none.
Just as Brian was resigning himself to asking Grace for directions, a dark spot in the corner of his vision drew his attention. Turning toward it, he noticed it was none other than Snape himself walking into the Great Hall, a sneer on his face as he looked toward the students.
"So Snape's an early riser huh? It makes sense I suppose, the first year potions book did cover several potions that need to be brewed at certain times of day to work. I assume more complex potions have far more varied times of day necessary. He's probably up at all hours brewing. That said though, the poor guy really shouldn't be stuck as a teacher, I can tell he hates kids and I've only seen him a grand total of two times now," Brian thought, feeling a small amount of pity for the man. He rose to his feet, hurriedly walking toward the professor. Snape, noticing Brian's approach just before he reached his seat at the High Table, stopped in place.
"Is there something you need Mr. Williams?" Snape asked as Brian drew closer, looking impatient. Brian did his best not to show his surprise at Snape recalling his name from the sorting, making sure to avoid looking into the man's eyes as he approached.
"Must be nice to have occlumency to help improve your memory," Brian thought, slightly jealous of the skill. Still, it was one of the things he planned to look into at the library.
"Sorry to bother you professor, I was just wondering if you could give me directions to the library? Brian asked, getting straight to the point. From what he remembered of Snape from the books, the shorter he made the conversation the happier the man would be.
"I see. And why exactly did you decide to ask me instead of Miss Rosier over there? Directing new students on where to go is part of the prefect's duties afterall," Snape replied dryly, nodding his head slightly towards the Slytherin table when he mentioned Rosier. . Brian winced slightly at the man's clearly annoyed tone but pressed on anyway. He hesitated for a moment, trying to decide the best way to phrase his answer, but ended up deciding blunt honesty worked best.
"I'm muggleborn. Most of my house either outright hates me or strongly dislikes me. I was worried that if I asked her I wouldn't get an answer. Or worse, she'd lie and give me directions to some random place just so I would get lost," He told the professor honestly. The man nodded his head in acknowledgement at Brian's explanation.
"I see," He replied quietly, evaluating the Brian for a moment before continuing.
"I suppose, given the circumstances, your concern isn't unwarranted. To reach the library, simply head to the front door of the castle, and take a right, it'll be hard to miss from there, it's on the first floor," Snape told him after a moment. Brian nodded his head in understanding.
"Now then, here is your schedule for the year. I'd been planning to hand them out after I ate breakfast, but I somehow doubt you'll deign to grace the rest of the hall with your presence before classes begin if you're heading to the library now," He continued, reaching into his robes and withdrawing a sheet of parchment.
"Thank you professor, enjoy your breakfast," Brian said gratefully, taking the proffered parchment as he spoke and putting it into his pocket. He turned around, making to walk away when Snape spoke up once more.
"And Mr. Williams?" Snape called after him, making him pause mid step and turn back around.
"Yes professor?" Brian replied, slightly startled at the man actually taking the initiative to prolong the conversation.
"If you need anything in the future, I believe you'll find Ms. Rosier, isn't the same as many of your housemates," He informed Brian.
"I see. Thank you professor. I'll do my best not to bother you in the future then," Brian told the man appreciatively.
"Off you go then," Snape said in dismissal. With that said, he walked away, taking his seat at the High Table as he began to eat. Brian ignored the curious glances students around the hall were sending his way, heading toward the library as he considered the man's words.
"So, Grace isn't bigoted against muggleborns? Is that what Snape meant? Or is it just that she takes her duties as prefect seriously enough to ignore her bias? It's useful information either way. Snape as a whole was more helpful than I expected. No doubt due to me being in Slytherin," Brian mused to himself. He withdrew the schedule Snape had given him from his robes, glancing over it as he walked.
"So, A double of Transfiguration for my first day huh? And then History of Magic after lunch, that's not too bad. I wonder if History is as bad as it was described in the books," Brian thought to himself. Either way, he had a library to find and not anywhere near as much time as he wanted to explore it.
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True to Snape's words, the library was relatively easy to find once he knew where to look. He simply followed the main hallway that the Great Hall opened up to until he reached the front doors, took a right and after walking for long enough he found the library, and what a sight it was. Brian had seen quite a few large libraries in his previous life, but the one at Hogwarts was in a world of its own. Shelves were reaching up high into the air filling the room, with row after row stretching on almost as far as he could see with scattered tables taking up the majority of the room between the rows of books. At the very end of the library, Brian could faintly see what looked like metal bars, blocking off several rows of the library from the rest of it. Still, even despite that, Brian couldn't think of any library he'd seen that could quite compare.
The library was huge and, aside from a few Ravenclaws pouring over their books at one table, the place was mostly empty. Which left him with another issue, finding the books he was looking for. Walking over to the shelf closest to the entrance, he was immediately greeted by a chaotic plethora of books. The row closest to him seemed to be charms, but the next row of shelves suddenly switched to books on potions instead, even though Brian was almost positive there were more books on charms present in the library than one row's worth.
"What in the world is this sorting system?" Brian wondered, moving further into the library. Moving further into the library he noticed yet another shelf on charms further down, with a shelf of transfiguration texts and a history shelf before it.
"Do they seriously alternate bookshelves like that? Why not just put all the books of one type in a certain area? How the hell am I supposed to find the book I want in this?" He thought in annoyance. Looking through the sheer quantity of books present in the library was a daunting prospect, and it wasn't something he'd be able to accomplish before Transfiguration either. Without many other options, I looked over at the counter where a woman who was most likely the librarian sat, looking his way with an intense stare.
"Pince was described as almost obsessively protective of the library books in the Harry Potter books, best to stay on her good side if I want to stay in the library for long," Brian mused to himself, walking over to her.
"What can I help you with?" She asked politely as Brian approached.
"How are the books here sorted? I don't really know how to find books on a specific topic. They seemed like they were sorted in some way but I couldn't really tell what method was being used," Brian asked her curiously. She nodded slightly in understanding as she heard his question.
"Yes, that's something most first years come to ask me at some point or another, it's not exactly the most obvious system. First of all, the books are obviously sorted by class subject, as you probably noticed. But they're also sorted by year level. So that first shelf of charms books by the entrance are the easiest to understand charms books in the library, material made for first years. The next time a charms shelf appears in that row it's with the next year's level of books on it. Obviously some topics we have books on aren't school subjects, which means they end up on some of the more miscellaneous shelves which are also sorted by topic and then assigned a difficulty level. As you might've noticed, the final few rows of shelves are blocked off and are off limits without a teacher's permission due to the dangerous knowledge some of the books there contain," She explained seriously.. Brian thought over the system she described, doing his best to resist the urge to groan.
"I see. What year level would basic books on runes be, third year?" He asked, assuming the books would begin where the elective for runes was allowed to be taken. The librarian looked surprised at his question, glancing over at him for a moment before answering.
"Yes, the introductory books to runes are in about the thirteenth row, though I'd warn you to be careful with those books young man. While they're a huge part of magic, Runes aren't an elective until third year for a reason, messing around with them without supervision can be dangerous," She warned, eyeing Brian cautiously. Brian smiled at her with confidence.
"Don't worry, I only want to learn about them so I understand wand movements more," He explained reassuringly. She still looked hesitant but nodded her head in understanding as he walked to where she'd directed. Sure enough, in the thirteenth row of the bookshelves, he found an entire section dedicated to beginner books on runes.
"How in the hell did they think this sorting system was a good idea? Just keep all of your damn books on each subject in consecutive rows. This just makes searching for books on various topics more work," He complained to himself as he picked out two books, Runes of Wands, as well as Runes: A Beginners Guide. A quick walk back to Madam Pince later, and he was checking out with his two books.
"I meant what I said young man, be careful if you decide to mess with runes," The librarian warned him once more as he took his two newly checked out books excitedly. He nodded his head somberly, waiting until she was looking back down at the book on her counter before bolting from the library to find a good spot to read in peace, without the librarian's watchful eye on him. Using a quick tempus to check the time, he saw he had about an hour and fifteen minutes before Transfiguration.
"Perfect, that gives me… an hourish to read before I need to hunt down a fellow Slytherin first year so I can follow them to Transfiguration," Brian thought happily. Managing to find the door to the castle fairly easily, he quickly headed outside, finding a nice secluded spot by one of the trees near the lake to read. Cracking open The Runes of Wands he began to read.
"Runes revolutionized magic around the world when the magical kind first discovered them, and when wands were first invented, magic was turned on its head once more. Whereas runes are normally something that needs to be prepared in advance to have any major effect, the runes formed by wand movements when channeled through a wand with the correct runes carved into it are faster to use, less draining on the caster, and above all, less dangerous. While there's many runes that wand movements can theoretically make, some are used far more commonly than others. Nauthiz, the rune that represents need in the Elder Futhark runic language, for example, is used for many summoning spells, whereas others, such as Uruz another Elder Futhark rune, which represents a bull, as well as tenacity and courage, is used in less spells simply due to less spells having effects that coincide with the intent it conveys," Brian read. He continued reading with great interest up until it was time for him to head back to his room to grab his supplies. With a sigh, he rose to his feet. It was time for Transfiguration.
AN: I can't believe we've already hit 200 followers! This blows my mind, thank you all for your support, it means a lot to me. I know this chapter was a little slow as well, but things are slowly picking up. Next chapter should be the last one for a while where the events taking place in it don't take place over the span of weeks/months. I just needed a few chapters to set the scene for Brian's first few years at Hogwarts. From here there will just be steady chapters showing Brian's growth and interactions with the students and professors as he goes through his first three years up until Harry finally shows up and the plot really starts ramping up. I didn't post an update estimation last chapter because I was falling a little behind and couldn't predict when I'd be posting. Thankfully though, I've caught back up so I can say with reasonable confidence the next chapter of this story should be posted either Sunday evening or Monday afternoon, depending on how inspired I'm feeling.
Next Update- February 12/13 Next Chapter Name- Requirement