The long awaited chapter 5! Very excited to share this one. I have to admit, trying to replicate dialogue for characters that already exist is a fun challenge. And yes, some of those characters make their debuts this chapter! Let me know how I did.
P.S. Rowling's world and her characters are hers, my characters and lore add-ons are my brainchildren
Chapter 5 - Maxximus Alexander Sphinkus
The last few days of August passed rather uneventfully and cyclically. In the early morning The Priestess would magically complete all the chores for the day then sit for breakfast with her son. The day was then passed with ever captivating lessons ranging from the evolution of magic through the ages to the difference between Magical and Mundane plants. Maxximus was particularly fascinated when they took the lessons outside for a more practical approach. However, the boy had not yet consciously produced magic himself.
This particular morning was no different, except that it was the first morning of September. To the village, the passing of months is no different than the passing of weeks or days. The markers that any time was passing at all were the New Hearth Festivals and the changing of seasons. With the Builder Clan still recovering from last month's incident it would be a while before the next Festival. However, today was still a day of note, for it was a Phoenix Burning Day and all the children would head to the oasis for the day to tend to the resurrected chicks. Phoenix ash made for excellent fertilizer as well as a key ingredient used sparingly in the making of grout. Nonetheless, this time, Maxximus was allowed to participate during the Pheonix Burning Day. It was always spontaneous and it is said that extreme good fortune would bless the villager who witnessed the burning.
"Hey guys! Long time no see! How are Helios and Aurora?" He says as he jogs up the river towards the oasis. He was never able to get an answer as a 9 year-old size blur crashed into him, knocking the wind right out of his lungs.
"Maxx! Maxx! Maxx! I missed you!" The words were more felt than heard since young Boukari forgot to lift his head from Maxximus' chest. A quick ruffling of the boy's hair, hellos distributed all around, and all the boys were back to their usual antics as if it was just yesterday that Maxximus was kicking the ball over the river with them.
The Oasis is especially lush today with a myriad of colours decorating the canopy like flowers in a field as the trees hold their bounties on full display. The gentle breeze of the budding autumn threatening to rob these trees of their treasure. One such breeze loosened one such gem as it journeyed downwards bouncing off a dark-haired head and resting in open palms before a stunned set of blue eyes. In front of him lay a particularly plump, heart shaped fruit, with a deep purple colour that could not exist elsewhere in the village. Although this might have been the most perfect fig to have ever been grown, ever the considerate boy, he tosses it to the youngest of the group. This wasn't completely selfless, as a little bit of repeated pressure on the tree behind him found enough fruit for all the boys to share. Even the newborn birds were able to peck at a couple smaller drops. Watching all his friends laughing and playing on the verdant landscape, the sun casting fig-coloured rays as it begins to hide behind the horizon, and the resplendent oasis flowing downstream like the lifeblood of the village, filled Maxximus with the comfort of a phoenix choir that could only be equated to being well and truly home.
It was a strange rippling in the oasis that dragged him out of his daydreaming. All eyes seemed to also be fixed on the unusual patterns in the water. Their trance was short lived as the ripples turned to rumbles and all the fruit started raining from the air above them. The whole area was shaking. It was an earthquake. Or so it seemed.
"Over there!" one of the boys exclaimed as truly, there was a sight to behold when looking down at the village. A dark purple cloud was approaching from the horizon, illuminated by the last rays of the setting sun. Except, this cloud was not in the sky, it was creeping in on the ground, the rumbles gaining magnitude as it approached. The onlookers from on high were particularly surprised when the cloud would occasionally light up in bright orange, like lightning but not quite. This was enough to snap Maxximus from his stupor. Although he wasn't sure how this was possible, he knew what this was.
"Guys we have to go. It's an Erumpent stampede, the same animals that got Heru. I'll go find my mom; she'll know what to do." She always knows what to do, this last part he said to himself.
Boukari, still not quite over the incidents of the last month, was the first to run down the plateau towards the village, his brother quickly after him. The rest of the boys following their lead rather chaotically, some tripping and falling into the river and being dragged roughly downstream ahead of the group. Maxximus, not having gone out in a while, was somewhere in the middle of the sprinting children, his longer legs helping him where his relaxed fitness hindered him. He couldn't help but notice in passing that even the paintings on the homes were no longer engaged in their endless dances. Pictural beasts and heroes alike were shoulder to shoulder in solidarity against the incoming explosive herd. What greeted the blue-eyed boy when he reached his home would've been an awesome show of power had the situation not been so dire. His mother, the Priestess Sphinkus, hair rippling like unfettered waves, eyes lit up like Erumpent blasts, was levitating children out of the river, some already gasping for air and sputtering out water on land. She was also maintaining a massive forcefield barely holding at bay the crashing Erumpents far enough away from the village. She spots Maxximus as he stops to check on some of his friends.
"Maxximus, go into the house, find my book. It's extremely old and has our family crest on the cover. Hurry!" her voice was strong, but she was beginning to strain.
"Mama, what's happening, why are they so angry?" This time Maxximus was not curious. He was scared.
"Maxximus, there's no time. Get the book. Now!" The Erumpents were beginning to push each other through the barrier, not being able to stop their course.
Dutifully, he rummages inside and finds the book on his mother's stone nightstand. The item in question was a thick, tan, leatherbound tome with brittle papyrus pages trimmed in gold. On the cover was the face of beautiful woman with a striped headdress, wings flapping rhythmically behind her, occasionally revealing a swaying tail. Almost protruding out of the book was a depiction of a scale keeping something intangible balanced. Beneath the gold crest, the name Sphinkus was inscribed in ancient Egyptian script, strongly resembling Greek. He picks up the book with both hands and hastily brings it back to his mother who was now fully concentrated on maintaining the barrier since all the children were now on land.
"Mama, I got it, what now?" he yells as the sound of exploding Erumpents obliterates the normal silence of the night.
"Maxximus, listen to me, it is time, go to the school, find your forebear. He's been waiting." She was now dropped on one knee from the exertion.
"Mama, you're not making sense, what school, what about you, what about the village." What about home. Confusion mixing with fear filled his vision with tears threatening to stream down his cheeks.
Too exhausted to hold the barrier, she turns fully, looking at her only family, her own tears flowing freely down her face and into the sand below.
"Remember to learn. Remember to do what is right, not what is easy. Remember who you are. I love you Maxximus Alexander Sphinkus." His name she said with great emphasis as the stampede charged ever closer, the first houses already being blown into piles of mud and rock. This was the last thing those unique blue eyes ever saw of his home as an unfamiliar tugging from his navel tore him through space, his footprints in the sand all that remain.
His feet landing on solid stone, he dared not open his eyes in fear of what he would see. The first thing he heard however was an accent he could not recognize.
"Blaise Zabini" the voice said.
"Slytherin!" another voice replied. However, there was no cheering or clapping for the boy, Blaise, was staring completely wide-eyed at the door to the Great Hall, where a boy, in what appeared to be a white skirt, was standing with sealed shut eyes, and clutching a strange book. The rest of the students followed his gaze to the alien visitor.
"Why on earth is there a boy dressed like a House-Elf here?" a young platinum blond exclaimed, breaking the silence.
Not hearing any more explosions, young Maxximus finally opens his eyes to look at the boy who spoke. He first noticed how small he felt in such a huge room, it seemed to extend eternally upwards for he could not see where the walls met the ceiling. In fact, there seemed to be no ceiling, above the thousands of floating candles the moon was looking back at him. He then noticed the hundreds of other kids dressed in very strange robes, that were most certainly not very breathable, staring at him and whispering to one another. A glance at the back of the room saw a table seating all the adults. Except the adults were no longer seated and all aiming short wooden sticks directly at him. All except a very old man with a very long white beard and very purple robes, he was still seated with his hands joined at the fingertips below his chin.
"Albus, what is the meaning of this?" the first voice explained, now linked to a tall, slender but very stern looking woman, also in robes. Everyone in the Hall was in robes, everyone except for him. Maxximus figured he definitely was not in his village anymore, surely not even in Egypt anymore if their accents were any indication.
"It would appear that this young man has traveled quite a distance to attend our fine school. Hailing from lands far warmer than here I'd imagine." the old man with the purple robes, Albus, responded. A strange twinkling in his bespectacled blue eyes betraying an amused curiosity. Now turning his attention to the boy in question.
"I have to admit my boy, it is not every year a student decides to make such a grand entrance on his first day at Hogwarts. It would seem our wards also share our surprise. I'd surmise our impenetrable defenses are therefore due to be renamed. However, 'Slightly Less Impenetrable Wards' rolls off the tongue rather poorly. Quite the predicament we find ourselves in, surely." At this, the staff and a few of the older students' eyes widened like saucers. It was supposed to be impossible to Apparate or Port-Key across the Hogwarts wards. "I'm sorry, it would appear I have forgotten to ask your name young one." The old man continued.
Maxximus, suddenly aware he was supposed to respond, was for the first time feeling a little naked in only his shenti and a blush began to colour his cheeks.
"Umm, my name is Maxximus." he whispered.
"I'm terribly sorry, but I suppose my advanced years are finally catching up to me. A little louder if you please." The grandfatherly man asked gently.
The old man's words reminding Maxximus that although these people were different, they were people, nonetheless. Even though in this room alone there was easily twice as many individuals compared to his village, there was magic at work he had never seen before, and everyone including the portraits were looking at him, he would face this journey head on. That's what his mother would want. Finding his voice, he exclaims: "My name is Maxximus Alexander Sphinkus".
The whole castle rumbled.