Master Xander

Chapter Thirty-six

Hogwarts

Non-Magical studies

Class was packed, with all three schools in attendance. It was the go-to class to attend these days. To the surprise of many students, even the headmaster popped in occasionally. Today, however, everyone was still hyped over the first trial and Professor Ceraine Delane wanted to capitalize on the excitement.

"Okay, everyone. Calm down," Professor Delane told the class. "To the champions present in class, I want to commend you for surviving such a dangerous undertaking. I know I wouldn't have imagined how I could have stolen an egg from a dragon!"

The woman smiled brightly at the contestants. They tried not to, but they couldn't help but preen.

The professor was careful not to look only at Harry and instead focused on the others, especially Cedric. He looked slightly cooked, but the medics had cleared up any serious burns nicely.

Young Harry's face was a mixture of excitement, combined with almost total exhaustion. In spite of her happiness that he had actually survived, Celine felt sorry for him at the moment. His attempts to open his prized golden egg had failed. His frustration was evident. The instant she had heard the sound from his egg, she understood exactly what it meant. Nevertheless, she had no intentions of telling him. It was meant for him, and he would find out for himself, or not.

Ron however, was getting on her nerves. His envy and jealousy was terrible. She wanted to say something, but she would allow Alex to deal with it. Was she ever that young? Her smile was rueful. She was royalty, and she remembered being worse. Still, she wanted to pop the red-head across his big noggin.

As for Ron, he looked almost gleeful at Harry's failure. He also looked envious. Harry's success seemed to aggravate the boy. She just shrugged. Kids at this age were nuts. He would improve once his hormones and attitudes calmed down, especially when Xander got through with him. Hormones were one thing, but keeping his attitudes under control would require a bit of work on his parents and Xander's part. He had so much potential. So did Neville and of course, Hermione.

Speaking of which…

"Class, you've seen the first set of LOR movies, some of you twice. Are your reports ready?"

There were the traditional groans, but all were at best half-hearted protests.

Surprisingly, young Malfoy had a question, which made Ceraine smile. Usually the boy avoided asking questions because he always ended up having extra homework to do because of it. It was a running joke with Alex torturing the kids. But Ceraine wouldn't do that to him, and apparently the class recognized it.

"In the movie, there were several kinds of goblins not seen or recorded in our lessons. And there were other creatures that didn't match what we've learned in our studies of magical creatures. My mother pointed this out."

"I met your mother," said Ceraine. "She is a very intelligent woman. We discussed several things that are related to your question. People of the magical community know so much, but not everything is known," she smiled. "This isn't a magical creature's class, but our discussion will serve a point that we can relate too, here. The goblins we've seen are not necessarily representative of the many kinds of goblins in the world. Think about it,. How many kinds of oranges and apples are there in the world? What about the different types of people we know of, even represented just in this class? And what about the ants. They come in small, medium and," she smiled now, "extra large. Look at their shapes and sizes. How many species have you not seen? The world is vast and stuffed with life. Remember in our earlier classes, we said that wand magic isn't the only magic known to the world. There are many kinds and it takes many forms. Even the so-called non-magicals use magic, just in different ways. So, the goblins and others seen in the movies look different because they're different species and different families. Variety is the spice of life. To not have variety invites stagnation."

"Let's take another example. You know about the magical dragons?" she asked, smiling at the champions in the room. What if I were to say that there are non-magical dragons. Would you believe me?"

"Do you mean those dino creatures Professor Harris showed us asked Vincent Crabbe.

"Ceraine was stunned. Even he, of all people, was engaged and becoming more so all the time. "The term dinosaur, Mister Crabbe, represents a collective set of creatures that the reference refers to. But, you've reached a sensible conclusion. No, they are not dragons, but an entirely different group. If we have the time, we will have a class or two about those amazing animals. I am sure you will love the raptors, and the T-Rex, and that entire family of plant and meat eaters." That comment produced several gasps of excitement from the student.

Professors Harris' and Delane's stories of non-magical history and imagination were the horrific stuff of legend at the school. If they suggested anything that even hinted of darkness, it was time to run out of the class, or have the memories stuck in your minds forever. Even the ghosts were sometimes frightened.

"These are animals you are unfamiliar with. But did you know that the non-magicals knew about some dragons that you've never heard of?"

Everyone, including Ron, Perked up. His brother would be interested in this and he wanted to make sure he remembered, so that he could tell him later. Harry's attention turned fully onto the conversation and away from the egg for the moment.

Ceraine pulled out her wand and pointed towards the LG dominating the room. An image came up of a huge bull dragon never seen before in the books. There was no question that it was a dragon, but what kind? No one in class recognized it. In front of that monster was a lone man carrying a crossbow, as if that could stop such a nightmare. Man, and monster glared at one another at point blank range. Cedric and Harry shivered at the sight. It looked worse than even the Horn tail. It was certainly larger, and the teeth alone looked like it could battle a dozen wizards and win. The students could see the flaming saliva dripping from its mouth, just waiting to be spewed out.

"Merlin's blood," someone whispered in stunned horror.

Harry looked pale and Cedric looked like he wanted to pass out.

"I've forgotten the actual name of this dragon," Ceraine said in her customary professional manner. "I will use the genus name Vemitrex, species Draconis Rex. The dragon's remains were discovered in the wilds of South America, North America, and the southern region of Slovakia. It was originally thought to be a new species of dinosaur, but it was later confirmed to be the so-called mythical dragon of non-magical fame. It was the first confirmed proof to non-magicals that dragons existed—that the wizards hadn't been around to cover up. In small magical towns such as Sunnydale, its discovery was all the rage."

Professor Delane continued, her eyes bright with excitement. "This particular species was believed to be responsible for creating an ice age, tens of thousands of years ago. They were supremely aggressive and attacked and burned anything and everything, feeding on the ashes. There was only one male, the one you're looking at in this image. The others were all female. the male would fly over and fertilize the females. There were thousands of them. They were like locusts. In the ancient days, they ran rampant, burning the world clean of life. Then they'd starve and feed on each other until there were only a few left. The survivors would them sleep and wait for life to renew itself." It was estimated that the cycle was repeated every twenty thousand years r so, give or take. There were smaller outbreaks of one or two waking up. They were all female and much smaller. Those were dispatched by no-mages."

Pansy looked horrified as she raised her hand to be recognized. "None of the dragons we've studies had a life cycle like that! How could the world survive and why haven't our books a record of such creatures? Does this species still exist?"

Ceraine smiled at her terrified expression, which somehow had spread to the whole class. "The bull was killed before he could start a cycle that would have spread across the world. They were extremely long-lived, able to survive in suspended animation for tens of thousands of years, until something or someone woke them. The male was notorious for having this ability."

"These dragons," Ceraine explained. "were a species to themselves and they didn't tolerate any other dragons species, or anything else to challenge their dominance. Other dragons, magical or otherwise, would not have been tolerated. Their numbers would have dominated everything. The non-magicals made a movie about the creatures and how it might have affected the modern world." She shook her head. Alex was rubbing off on her, way too much.

"Let me guess, the American army stopped them," Crabbed said with a touch of real concerned. In his eyes, she could see that he was hoping his assertion was true.

"Not this time," Ceraine beamed. "It was an international military battalion. Non-magical, of course, since the Wizarding world hadn't known about them." She continued smiling. "Non-magical concerns, you see."

"We need more computers in the magical world," Hermione announced. "no one in the class disagreed with her observation.

"It was by no means an easy task," Certain told them. "Everything they did made it worse. The world was at the edge of a precipice. If the bull had freed itself, the world would have been lost. They managed to blow it to pieces before it was fully awake. The Bull's need for vengeance and retribution for any transgression by its food, made the dragons you know of look feeble in comparison. The story you can look up on the computers is only a movie, a fictional tale to amuse the people. But the dragon species? That's another story. The way it was killed was remarkably similar as to what you will see in the movie."

"In real life, the nations involved were so alarmed that they placed the incident under the tightest of security and destroyed all of the evidence. They didn't want the general population to know how close to extermination the world was. Of course, Alex's town knew about the incident. This townspeople knew about everything which was natural, given where they lived and what they had to deal with. Everyone in the town was fully aware of their surroundings, or they would be dead or eaten, all too soon."

She dramatically sighed to get her point across. "The non-magicals hide their secrets from the world and the wizards hide theirs from the non-magicals. So much is lost. We talked about this before."

Susan Bones and Dalphine Greengrass found themselves nodding.

"This gets us back to our main point. Both sides have histories that need to be known to everyone. Without the knowledge of history, we are obliged to repeat the mistakes." She paused. "I do have a question for you students. Has anyone spoken to their parents about the things we discussed in class?"

That was a redundant question. Everyone had raved about the non-magical class, the equipment and most of all, the history.

"My father refuses to believe most of the stories I've told him," Lavander brown said. She was a purebred who started in the same year as Harry and Ron. "He says that muggles, his term," she said, "they don't have the brain capacity to create something that can fly other than the balloon things he saw when he was a child."

"But you know better now, don't you?"

"Oh, yes. Professor. The Tele in our classroom is proof of that, not to mention the computer tablets."

"Whatever you do, please do not disrespect your elders," she cautioned. "We are a product of our cultures, and some people will never believe even if they are directly confronted with it. but it is important that you know the truth. This is also an example of what Professor Harris explained to you in an earlier class, as a double-blind system. Neither side knows what is happening to the other side because they don't communicate with each other. Who knows? Maybe there are other ways to defeat dragons, non-magical ways with the use of only a crossbow and a few chemicals in the proper proportions. Of course, I wouldn't recommend it unless you really have to," she said. "But the point is, there are ways. But enough about magic."

"This is a non magical class," the woman dismissed. Let's talk a little about exercise and why non-magicals prefer it over potions. If they did have magical potions, I am unsure if they would use them as much as you would assume. After all, a healthy body helps produce a healthy mind. A healthy mind gives rise to a healthy imagination," she paused. "There are some who propose that imagination is the enemy. I, of course, strongly disagree with that theory. And those people," she added with more than a hint of malice, "are the ones you should worry about. Hiding from the truth is one thing. Taking it from others is something else entirely."

"But sometimes, isn't hiding the truth a good thing for everyone involved?" asked Hermione.

Ceraine's glare as dangerous as anything the curly haired had ever seen before. "Miss Granger, good and evil often employ the same tactics. Sometimes, the only way to tell the difference is to examine the motivations. Does that answer your question?" the professor cryptically asked her.
The other students in the room were quiet, not daring to ask the one question that was on everyone's mind.
Ceraine smile her disarming smile, sat at her desk and folded her hands.
"Our next subject will center on the history of non-magical flight and how do those heavier than air airplanes stay up in the sky, how do they take off and land safely, how fast do they travel and who thought to invent the first powered flying craft. And how they did it without magic."

When the class was over, students again rushed towards their now beloved computers to research. Dragons, the fictional movie Reign of Fire, and Airplane history and function.
Again, seeds were planted.
Those seeds didn't go unnoticed, and a dark force decided it was time to act.