"It's going to be a long day," I said through a breath as I placed a textbook on each desk, each of them having a certain set of pages ripped out. I had a mixed group of Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff third years first thing in the morning followed by a planning period. After lunch, I had fourth years from Gryffindors and Slytherins followed by more Gryffindors and Slytherins who were in the 6th year. I only had each class once a week as I was teaching every single year of every single house, and this worried me a little bit. But I also had to remind myself that I was only going to be here for one school year, so they weren't going to learn much anyway, maybe just a few simple transmutations.
Grabbing a piece of chalk off the tray on the black board, I wrote "ALL IS ONE, AND ONE IS ALL." As this was my first assignment, this was going to be theirs as well. But, I figured I wouldn't be allowed to leave them all stranded on an island by themselves, no matter how much I would probably want to by the end of the week.
Just then, there was a knock on the doorframe to the classroom. I looked over to see a few frightened third years standing in the doorway. "Well don't just stand there!" I called. "Come on in and find a seat," I directed. With a sigh, I hefted myself up onto my desk, my flesh leg crossed over my metal one as I waited for everyone to file and find their seats. I noticed as everyone sat down that the ones in blue, the Ravenclaws, and the ones in yellow, the Hufflepuffs, had separated themselves to different sides of the room.
As soon as the bells chimed for the beginning of the period, I sighed and took out the list of students who were supposed to be in my first period class. "When I call your name, please just say 'here' so we can get our class underway," I directed. No one said a word, so I took that as my cue to start. I went down the list, and I found everyone to be present. "Yes?" I said, inclining my head to a brunette Ravenclaw boy in the front row.
"Uh, Professor Elric?" he said nervously. "H-how old are you, if you don't mind me asking," he said but immediately looked like he regretted even saying anything. I sighed and uncrossed my legs before crossing them the other way. I was waiting for this question to pop up, I just didn't think it would come this soon.
"I'm 17," I said simply. The class immediately erupted into whispers. "Alright, alright," I said as I held up a hand. "That's enough." The class quieted. "My age has nothing to do with how well I can do my job or how well I know alchemy," I said sternly. "Now, to begin this class, you will need to answer this simple riddle," I said, turning to point at the board behind me. "All is one, and one is all. You will have exactly one month to answer the riddle. If you can't, this class will become a study hall, and you will not be permitted to learn alchemy." The class erupted into conversation again. I groaned and leaned my head back. We were never going to get anywhere if they kept talking.
"Enough!" I called. "This is my class, and I will run it the way I want to. Alchemy is a dangerous art, and if you don't understand every single principle, and this riddle," I said, pointing back at the board, "you could hurt yourself, someone else, or even wind up with someone dead, so I suggest you close your mouths and open your ears," I snapped. That seemed to grab their attention.
"Thank you. Now, as I was saying, you have exactly one month to figure this out. You can't help each other, you can;t share your answer if you don't get it right. If I found out that anyone has been helping each other, you'll be removed from the class. Is that understood?" I asked, scanning the class to see if anyone was going to argue. One person did raise their hand, albeit timidly. "What?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest, daring them to argue with me.
"I don't mean to be disrespectful, sir," the girl with the Hufflepuff crest of her robes began, "but why do you have to understand this riddle? What role does it play in alchemy?"
"And what is alchemy anyway?" another Hufflepuff girl asked as she raised her hand.
"This riddle is the basis for all alchemy. To understand any other principle of alchemy, you must understand this one," I explained. "Though, you lot have it much easier than my brother and I had it," I said through a chuckle, remembering our times spent on the island. "Our alchemy teacher left us on a deserted island for a month with only the clothes on our back, a knife, and this riddle. I'll even give you a hint, circles," I said. The class was silent, and I could see the gears turning in their heads. "You can tell me anytime in the next month what you think the answer is, but you only have one chance. Is that clear?" Everyone nodded. I could tell they were itching to complain, but they stay silent.
"Now, as for the question about the art of alchemy itself, I actually wanted to hear from you, so see what you know," I said. Immediately, a Ravenclaw boy in the middle row raised his hands. I gestured for him to continue.
"Alchemy is a lost form of magic used to create the philosopher's stone," my eye twitched, "and turned lead to gold," he said smugly.
"Wrong," I said with a smirk. He clearly thought a lot of himself. The boy practically deflated. "And since when is alchemy magic?" I said with a grimace. "Alchemy is actually a science that followers the law of Equivalent Exchange," I explained. They all stared at me blankly. "Why aren't all of you writing this down?" I asked. They all scrambled to gather their writing utensils and parchment as I hopped off my desk and grabbed a piece of chalk and started writing on the board.
"Let's at least start with some basics so you're not going to sit here and just stare at me for a month straight." I paused and turned to look at the class. "And alchemy can not be used to create a philosopher's stone," I said firmly. The word 'pure' was unspoken, but they didn't need to know about that. "And it is extremely illegal to make gold from lead; it would ruin the economy," I explained as they started using their quills to write down some notes.
For the rest of the class period, we went over the basic laws of alchemy, like equivalent exchange, which caused a stir among the students, and I assigned a few pages for them to read in their textbooks. I wasn;t going to force them to learn the Periodic Table of Elements if they weren't going to answer the riddle correctly; they could start that once they passed their first little quiz as I was calling it. They also owed me a well written paragraph of the importance of equivalent exchange.
When the bell rang, I dismissed my class as I turned to clean the board behind me to get ready for the next class. Thankfully, I had a free period between now and then to chill for a little bit and recover from my first class period. I should probably start a letter to Al as well. And I was expecting my painting for my room and my door to be delivered. So much for a free period.
"Professor Elric," a soft voice said, and I turned around from cleaning the board to find one of the Ravenclaw students, Luna Lovegood, I believe, was standing in front of my desk. I gestured for her to speak. "I believe I have the answer to your riddle," she said, her voice light and airy. I blanched at the girl. There was no way she had figured it out that quickly. There was no way in hell.
"Miss Lovegood, you do understand that you only have one chance to give me your answer, correct?" I asked, an eyebrow raised.
"Oh, yes, sir," she said with a dreamy smile. "The riddle is quite simple really," she continued. "One is all, and one is all is exactly what it says; it means what it says. It is like the circle of life. The young become old and eventually they become new all over again. Everything fits into a cycle, a circle," she said, a soft smile on her face. I could only stare at her for a minute before I shook myself from my stupor.
"T-that is exactly correct," I said, absolutely stunned as I reached for a pen and some paper. I quickly scrawled her name down and stashed it away for later. "Well, Miss Lovegood, you can start studying the Periodic Table of Elements on page five of your textbook," I said, and her smile widened by a fraction.
"Thank you, professor. Have a wonderful day," she said before quite literally skipping out of the classroom. I could only stare behind her, not sure what to think.
This was going to be an interesting year indeed.
Harry's POV
I could only sit and stare at all of the pictures hanging on the walls of the room as Hermione flipped through her textbook and Ron stared off into space, surely reminiscing over what he had for lunch and dreaming about what there would be for dinner.
As I looked around the room, the first picture that had grabbed my eyes, or my ears really, was one of an asian boy who couldn't be any older than us wearing fancy robes, his hair pulled up. There was someone dressed in black standing by his side. The boy in the picture was talking excitedly to someone named Lan Fan as he hopped up and down in what looked like his throne. I could see him causing issues during class.
The next one, or two I saw really as they were placed right next to each other. In the picture on the left was of two boys and a woman while the one on the right held the two boys with another younger girl in between them. On the wall behind the professor's desk was one of a man who looked very similar to Professor Elric except for the beard along with the woman who had been in the first picture; I figured they were his parents.
There were two more framed pictures on the professor's desk that were angled away from our view. On the third wall, there were three more pictures. The first contained a simple scenery depicting a little house surrounded by rolling meadows. The one beside it was full of life. It held Professor Elric in his loud, red trench coat, a bearded man pulling him into a side hug. The professor did not look pleased. Beside the blonde teacher was a massive suit of armour with a little girl on its shoulder. I could only wonder what kind of person who willingly wore a heavy suit of armor for what almost looked like a family picture. There was another smiling woman off to the side.
The last one held who looked like a younger Professor Elric in an even louder red trench coat. Well, his whole outfit was way louder, but something about the boy told me while his fashion choice had mellowed, his personality had not. Behind the boy was a man dressed in what looked like a blue military uniform, though I didn't recognize it. Before I could ask Hermione anything, the door slammed against the back wall as Professor Elric entered the room.
"Sorry I'm late. I had a mess to clean up," the blonde teacher said as he swept into the room. "Please come up and grab a book off the pile while I do attendance," he said and plopped down in the seat behind his desk.I didn't miss the wince as he did so, but I decided not to question it. "And please correct me if I mispronounce your name," he added as he started going down the list.
I didn't miss the pause when before he said my name nor did I miss the long stare he gave me before continuing. I was used to it by now, what with having a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher every year. I had to admit, I was getting tired of the constant attention I was getting. Slowly, everyone stood up and grabbed a book off the pile as everyone replied to their name as it was called.
"Ronald Wealey!" Professor Elric called before he seemed to freeze. He slowly brought his gaze up to state at the boy next to me. Ron went pale under the teacher's angry, golden stare. "Don't tell me you're related to Fred and George," he said, his voice low.
"I-I am, s-sir," he said shakily. "W-what did they do, professor?" he asked, sounding nervous.
"Let's just say they did not make a good first impression," he nearly growled, as his gaze darkened. With their reputation, I could only imagine what kind of trouble the twins had gotten themselves into. Ron only covered his face with his hands and groaned.
"Are you even old enough to teach this class? Are you even qualified?" Draco suddenly asked from his seat in the back of the room. I had to resist the urge to roll my eyes at the boy."You don't look much older than us," he scoffed as he looked around to some of the other Slytherian students. I could tell from the smug looks on their faces that they were all thinking the same thing. I mean, I was thinking it too, but it wasn't something you could just ask someone; it was down right rude. Professor Elric seemed to be thinking the same thing.
"I don't think I have to answer to you,..." he trailed off, not knowing the boy's name.
"Malfoy, Drave Malfoy," the blonde brat provided in a smug tone, a smirk adorning his lips.
"Well, Mr. Malfoy, would you like to tell me the definition of alchemy if you think you're more equipped to teach this class?" Draco didn't answer. I had to suppress a snicker, hiding my mouth behind my hand. The new, young professor had just humiliated Malfoy in front of the entire class. It was great. One look at Ron and I knew he was thinking the same thing. "That's what I thought," he said as he stood before approaching the black board on the wall behind his desk.
"Well, let's get started with our first lesson, unless anyone else wants to question my authority," he challenged, looking around the class, a golden eyebrow raised. The class was silent. "Alright, now, One is all, and all is one," he said. "This is your first quiz, it'll be due in a month. You have one try to answer this riddle correctly, and if you don't you'll be kicked from the class without question," he explained. The entire classroom was in uproar after that.
"Quiet! All of you!" the professor bellowed, shocking us all to silence. I had never heard someone so loud. It was evident our new alchemy professor was going to provide all sorts of surprises, that much he had proven.
This was going to be an interesting year indeed.