Ravenwood Magus
Hey everyone, Nightmare here, just wanted to say a quick apology for the long wait for that last chapter, IRL has been a crazy time for me, currently struggling finding another job after some stuff with my old job that ended in a termination. Either way, I will start trying to work on this chapters a bit more for you all and thank you for all the love and Support! Also, to the Guest who commented about the lack of opportunity of the Horcrux in Harry's Scar and in the Cup, you need to read the first chapter again, and look a bit closer. Anyways, I'll shut up and let Harry and those folks all get back to what they were up to, so enjoy!
Chapter 4: Ravenwood Academic Faculty
"It would have been, Headmaster Ambrose, had many of the Spiral did not feel the entrance of the little mageling to our side of the Doors."
Harry and Ambrose turned as one, Gamma simply turning her head in shock. Standing behind them, near the doors they had entered, stood a creature. It was tall, or, would have been, had it not been hunched over heavily. It let out a shaky, unsteady, gasping breath, like a dying man. Its eyes a soft haunted glow, mere pinpoints of light instead of actual eyes, which seemed to stare directly at young Potter from the skull that was there instead of an actual face. Ambrose instantly went to stand before the young boy, guarding him.
"Nightshade! What are you doing in this tower? You were banished to the Other Side years ago!" he said angrily, eyes glowing as he readied a spell should the Undead be hostile. Nightshade, if that was the figures name, held up his free hand, the other using the wickedly sharp scythe he carried as a walking stick and cane.
"Peace, Headmaster. I come not to fight, but to speak. Mostly to the young man you're guarding." he said, voice rattling lightly "I have watched him for many years, I merely wished to finally meet my charge." he added "I will not cast a spell, and will stay here, should you rather that. As for how I'm here, your old Student and Teacher broke the banishment, though it took me much time to figure out how to break the seal on the tower he put me in." said the skull faced being, possibly male in life.
Ambrose seemed to watch the Wraith, then nodded "alright, you may speak, but no funny movements, and no moving from that doorway" he warned the creature of Death Magic, who gave a nod, and motioned to the human child before him, who stood entranced, gazing at him.
"Do you remember me, child? How I hid you from that whale of a child with no magic and his minions?" he asked, gazing at the boy. Harry nodded silently. He at first saw Nightshade, now that he knew his name, and had been frightened at first. but, at the same time, an instinct inside him told him that this being would never harm him. How he knew this, he had no clue, but he felt it in his gut, and he knew that his gut wasn't wrong, it never had been before. He slowly stepped forward towards the Wraith, and gently walked past the wizened headmaster, who watched as the child walked towards a clearly evil being and was concerned.
"Harry, wait-" he started, only for Gamma to land on his shoulder, shaking her head and signaling him to silence. The Headmaster watched, and as the boy got closer, there was an aura around him forming as the Treasure Card of the Wraith he had seen earlier appear between them, and it seemed to glow and change, before solidifying into a black card, a signal it became permanent to the young Mages Spell deck, and he saw, surprisingly, that it no longer said Wraith, but "Polymorph Nightshade". This surprised the headmaster, as he never knew that a wizard COULD polymorph as the 'Boss' being. He watched as Harry and Lord Nightshade seemed to speak with nothing more then their eyes/eye-points to each other, before Nightshade shook his head "If, Headmaster, you would see fit, I will be young Potters Necromancy teacher, as Malistaire has started to make moves to destroy your school and return his love." he said "your student, the one named Ashthorn, is good, but he isn't good enough, he could never Master Death Magic such as Harry here can." he added, gazing at the elderly wizard "after all, who better to teach a student of Death Magic then one of the more powerful undead?" he reasoned to the man, who seemed skeptical.
"And what is to say that you will not corrupt Harry to join Malistaire?" asked the headmaster, frowning again "After all, you were released by him, were you not?" he questioned of the wraith. Nightshade simply nodded, then held up the back of his hand, showing an odd symbol that seemed to be a circle with a line down it inside of a triangle "this symbol is the mark of someone more powerful than either of us, Ambrose. They wish of me to train the boy to be a true Master of Death Magic. I cannot and will not tempt fate to go against them when they are...never mind, I would talk to you later that." he said. Harry thought this was all complex and way over his head, but he did want to put in his say.
"Headmaster, I wish to learn my Schools Magic from Lord Nightshade. Something just tells me that he won't let me join this...Malistaire?" he spoke, though he had no real idea who that was. Headmaster Ambrose and Gamma looked at each other, then the older wizard sighed "Malistaire was our original Death Magic Teacher, young Harry. However, his wife, the Life Magic teacher, fell ill and passed away, and this seemed to drag Malistaire down a dark train of thought, and a Darker Road. He seems to be trying to destroy the school and apparently seek a path to restore his wife to life. However, no magic in the spiral could do that, it's simply not the way of Magic." he explained, before a light of understanding entered his eyes, and he gazed at Lord Nightshade "I will allow Lord Nightshade to teach you, Harry, but I will talk with him first about a lesson plan for you, to allow you not to overwhelm yourself in magics. It would not do to burn yourself out before you're ready for a higher spell." he said firmly, he was the headmaster, and that put him in charge of the health and well-being of those under him called his staff and students. He smiled kindly to the boy, and then spoke to Gamma.
"My dear friend, why don't you show our newest student to the Teachers he is to be taking lessons from? I must speak to Lord Nightshade, and discuss a lesson plan for our newest necromancer." he said, and then Gamma simply nodded, chuckling softly as she flew to the boy, landing on his shoulder, before motioning with a wing to the door, a clear sign for Harry to begin moving, who gave a small bow to the Wraith to be his teacher, before moving past him, an almost calming and...caring, if he had the word for it, presence engulfing him as he partially touched the cloak that hid the beings form from view. As soon as they were gone, the door closing, the two aged and knowledgeable wizards of magic turned to look at each other, glowing pinpoints of light staring into the clear and bright eyes of the other.
"Now, Lord Nightshade, let us talk of a lesson plan...and of Malistaire's plans as you know them" said Headmaster Ambrose, moving to take a seat on a chair, a second appearing for the Wraith, who simply nodded, and moved to sit in what would be a very long talk.
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Sitting on young Harry's shoulder, Gamma hooted as she directed the newest student towards the dorms and teacher buildings, as well as the great tree Bartelby. Stepping into the academy proper, Harry was greeted by a large stork, or maybe it was a crane? In clothing holding a check board.
"Hello! You must be our first of our two newest applicants, yes? I'm Mr. Lincoln, I run the minutia of applications and paperwork here at Ravenwood Academy, to allow the Headmaster and Headmistress Gamma here to focus on the general running of the place and dealing with the student body should need arise." Greeted Mr. Lincoln, now that he was named and identified.
"Hoo! Mr. Lincoln does a splendid job helping with the paperwork as he does, allowing us to help teach and guide students of magic easier without running ourselves empty." Gamma confirmed, flapping her wings slightly "Mr. Lincoln, are the teachers ready to introduce themselves to young Harry?" she asked, to which the Registrar nods, motioning behind him.
"of course, right this way, Headmistress, Harry" he said, turning to walk closer to the big tree Harry saw behind the bird being, which seemed to have a face with only one eye. As they got closer, Harry could swear the one eye turned to look directly at him, feeling like he was being looked directly into his very soul. Standing near the roots of the tree, and what might have been a mouth, stood several Adults, another kid, and what appeared to be...a Cow, a Dog, and a small toad on two legs, wearing clothes? Not to mention the smaller figure of a plump woman with wings flying between the whole group. Harry had to stop and blink as he looked at them all, totally shocked at seeing such odd sights. One of the normal humans, a balding man with a sneer on his face, made a noise that took the attentions of the cow woman and someone who Harry believed to be Falmea, judging by the fact her ankle length, slim dress was a beautiful, in his opinion, fire red and orange dress, and her hair was up like a flame..kind of like that character from that Disney movie he caught a glimpse of back at the Dursley's through a crack in his door..Hades, he thought the name was? Either way, he was brought out of his thoughts as Gamma gently taps him with a wing.
"Now, Harry, these are your teachers here at Ravenwood School" she said, giving an owl of a smile, then motioned to the smallest of them, the flying woman in the light blue dress.
"Harry, was it?" said the plump woman, adjusting her hat "a pleasure to meet you, darling, my name is Professor Lydia Greyrose, and I teach students the magical art of Thaumaturgy, or Ice Magic." she introduced herself and her classes "Thaumaturges, like myself, use our magic to call allies from the snows and ice via Chants, and are mostly defensive in nature." she explained. The next professor stepped up, being the frog in the purple outfit and top hat.
"Which is the opposite of my own school of magic, The School of Storm! My name is Haleston Balestrom, and I teach the songs of storms to young Diviners, who wield the storms power like the mighty Zeus, striking fear into our enemies, and a really good shock!" he said excitedly "I cant wait to see you in my classes, young Potter" he jumped a bit at this last statement, only for his suspected Fire teacher to pipe up.
"Storms may be strong, my friend, but they do not last long." she said, turning her eyes, like amber embers, to the young man before her "I am Dalia Falmea, and I teach students Pyromancy, the magic of Fire. We are a slower school, this is certain, but we burn fiercely and consistently, dealing Damage over Time with our magic." she said "we do not play silly games in Fire, for we do not want to be burned." she added, causing the frog to chuckle himself, before the green kimono clad cow woman, he thought, stepped in.
"and many things that burn can grow to new, fresh heights." she said "such is the way of the school of Life, my name is Moolinda Wu, im a fairly new teacher, so please don't mind if I happen to make a small mistake or two" she said with a soft voice. "in Life, we teach that all life is precious, and that living your life as a Theurgists, no matter how simple it is, goes a long way to showing mastery over your own magics." she gave him, which Harry honestly could appreciate, seeing how he just wanted to life his own life, not one of a super famous kid or a slave to those...people.
"of course, life isn't worth living without Imagination, or some actual skill or intelligence" sneered the last adult, who gave Harry a look that made him uncomfortable, like a dog who made a mess "my name is Cyrus Drake, I teach those who show being worth teaching the magic of the school of Myths, using ancient legends and stories of other worlds to draw forth the creatures of legend to attack and stand beside us as allies. Conjurers, we call the practitioners of Myth." he said, before turning away "now that my part is done, im off to take care of paperwork I need done. Don't bother me unless you truly think your worth the time it would take to train you" he said, walking off towards a building with the same symbol on his robes. The other adults watched him, and sigh, shaking their heads. The second to last one, the boy only a bit older then Harry himself, coughed lightly.
"don't mind him, friend. He's always a bit of a rough and grouchy guy." he said, then smiled "names Malorn, Malorn Ashthorn. I teach students about Necromancy, or Death Magic...well, I get them started, anyways, its been more an independent study or with Headmaster Ambrose when he has a free moment due to, well, the last Death teacher going Evil and blowing the Death school off the edge of the cliff…" he coughed again, rubbing his head.
"And to round them off, I am the Teacher of Balance." said the dog in the very nice suit "my name is Arthur Wethersfield, of Marleybone." he introduced, giving a short bow "I teach Balance, that magic is central to everything we do in our lives, and all magic stems from similar roots. While it has branched out over the Eons, it use to be of something similar." he explained, and then Mr. Lincoln stepped up and chuckled "now now, this all might seem a lot for you, im sure, but I have a feeling you'll do just fine in your classes. Do you know what school the Grimoire pointed you towards to start with?" the crane asked, only for Gamma to speak up
"actually, he does, however something came up with it, so Harry cannot use the normal teacher for this class this time" she explained "Mister Ashthorn is a strong Necromancer, but someone who is a Mastery of it has come forward to teach Harry Necromancy." she explained, turning to Malorn "I do hope you are OK with this?" she asked, to which the young man simply nodded.
"Hey, when you got a Master offering to teach, who are you to say your better then them?" he said with a shrug "besides, I've got a few other students to help with, not to mention my own studies." he added "speaking of, I should actually get back to those…" he muttered, then gave a salute "see you later Harry, Headmistress!" he said, running off back the way the new student and deputy headmistress had just come from.
Harry blinked, and then shook his head as the other teachers slowly took their leave, leaving him with Gamma and Mr. Lincoln, who looked concerned. "Headmistress, who offered to teach young Harry? The only real Death Master we had was Malistaire, and obviously he would not teach again, not without some serious damage to the school" he spoke, rightfully worried, though Gamma waved him off.
"Old Magik is at play now, Mr. Lincoln, Old Magik indeed. In fact...Harry" she turned to her shoulder having companion "would you be so kind as to show that egg and the card you got to Mr. Lincoln?" she asked, and Harry, not seeing a reason to say now, when to grab the card, which had been in his pocket, offering it to the Crane, who took it as he went to reach into his robe for the egg...and came out with an odd bird instead, both human and bird staring each other in the eyes, while the other two school birds watched.
"well then, I suppose your egg hatched while we were talking and introducing your teachers" was all Mr. Lincoln said, before the ghostly pale bird Harry now held leaned in and nuzzled Harry affectionately.