Multiple Encounters
Morning came and the bright rays of the sunlight were the first thing that awakened Marius from his deep slumber. The Dreamless sleep he took worked perfectly fine as he felt his body well rested despite of what just occurred to him last night. He abruptly woke up when a sudden pop echoed in the room, making him alert and grap the dagger he kept under his pillow and pointed it to the creature’s throat.
“M-master Marius, sir, Izzy is sorry sir”, the house-elf’s squeaking voice snapped him back and he lowered him dagger and sighed.
“I’m sorry Izzy, you startled me”
“I is sorry Master, Izzy will iron her ears later sir”, Marius’ eyes widened at this.
“Izzy, I forbid you from punishing yourself”, the elf’s ears perked up at this and her eyes were became more wider and it sparkled with unshed tears. Seeing this one of his eyebrows were raised but he decided not to pry into the old masters of the elf.
“I…Yes Master Marius”
“Izzy why are you here?”
“Master, Master Griphook is be looking for you, saying about a letter”
“I see, tell him I will be there in a minute, Thank you Izzy”, Izzy bowed and with a pop she disappeared. Marius took a shower and changed his clothes before going out to meet with Griphook.
“Griphook, I apologize for making you wait”
“No it is fine Young Clarke, the letter we have sent has been approved by the Headmaster”
“Really?”
“But you need to head there firstly in order to take exams for them to make sure that you can catch up with their studies, will that be alright with you?”, Marius smiled at this and nodded.
“Exellent then, here this is a portkey that is set to leave in 20 minutes and will directly lead you to the Headmaster’s office where you will meet with the Headmaster, probably to ask some questions”
“That is fine by me, thank you once again for this”
“Young Clarke we bid you the best of luck”, then Griphook bowed and apparated away after handing Marius with a watering can portkey.
Marius clutched his necklace and fiddled with it for a while before taking a deep breath and releasing it, then he turned to the corner to look for Izzy, seeing that she is not anywhere there he called upon her.
“Izzy”, with a pop she appeared quickly.
“Yes Master”, she curtsied.
“Bring out my baggage then please head on to this address along with Beau, I am about to head to Hogwarts for some exams that I have to take”, as he gave the elf a parchment where he wrote the address of the unplottable land he has chosen. Beau appeared and sat near his legs and he ruffled his thick fur white fur that has spots of brown in it.
“Beau go with Izzy for now, then maybe if I get accepted I will ask the Headmaster if I can take you with me”, Beau lolled his tongue and barked at him and this made him smile, a sudden pop made him look away from Beau only to see Izzy.
“Master is be going now?”
“Yes Izzy”
“But Master not ate yet”
“I will be fine Izzy”, he smiled at her then she bowed and she popped away with Beau to the address given to her. He checked on his watch and saw that the portkey is about to activate so he held onto it along with his baggage. He felt alone without Beau by his side but he knew he will be fine, then he felt the same pull of a portkey and he closed his eyes.
….
As he opened his eyes all he saw was a large and beautiful circular room, full of funny little noises. The walls were covered with portraits of old headmasters and headmistresses, all of whom were snoozing gently in their frames. There was also an enormous, claw-footed desk, and, sitting on a shelf behind it, a shabby, tainted wizard's hat. On the table was a bowl full of what seemed to be sweets, he was looking around when he saw what he thought to be a bird but when he looked closely, his eyebrows raised and he saw a phoenix.
‘No wonder until not he is still alive, his life essence is connected to the phoenix’, Marius thought and as he waited an old man with long beard and wearing moon spectacles was staring at him from above the stairs of the office his eyes twinkling. Then the Headmaster made his way down the stairs then he stood up straight, Albus Dumbledore smiled at him as he sat down on his chair.
“Please sit, Mr.Clarke”, he said as he waved to the direction of the chair.
“Thank you Headmaster”
“You fully know that Hogwarts is a school for the following species: Vampire, Lycan/ Werewolf, Witches and Humans who were born from witches all males”, Draco nodded at this letting the Headmaster continue on.
“Knowing that you are born from a witch you may chose to stay in this world or be Obliviated and live a quiet life in the Muggle world, you still have a choice, my boy.”
“My decision is made up Headmaster, I wish to follow the footsteps of my grandmother and become a Potions Master”
“Ah yes Mrs. Clarke was a good Potioneer, though it really makes me sad to hear about her passing”, then Marius bowed his head then answered.
“Well she was already getting old”, and Dumbledore nodded at this.
“What you are doing is a very brave thing Mr. Clarke, though I have to warn you. You are the first human in a few years to be attending this instituition as others decided not to attend this school due to some horrid incidents in the past and your subjects will be quite a lot than the others, will you be ok with that?”
“Yes sir”
“I see my boy. You will have to take up exams for the following subjects, Potions, Herbology, Care of Magical Creatures, Vampire and Werewolf Studies, Muggle Studies, Arithmancy and History of Magic, Werewolves and Vampires. Have you prepared my boy? If not we could give you sufficient time to review”, Dumbledore asked kindly his fangs showing when he smiled and Marius shook his head.
“No sir I will be fine, which subject would I take first?”, and Dumbledore’s eyes sparkled at this then he stood up and beckoned for Marius to follow after him.
“Oh Mr. Clarke you may leave your baggage here and just take some parchments and quills”, Marius nodded then opened his bag to pick up those he needed and followed the Headmaster out of his office.
“As you know some professors will try to test you for any kind of topic ranging from First year to Fourth year and keeping up with the studies of Fifth years will be quite—well too much I should say”
“I will be fine Headmaster, thank you for your concern”, he said as they reached a door near the dungeons but before they were to enter, Dumbledore looked at him.
“Ah and Mr. Clarke since you are the only human attending do be careful of the Slytherin House”, Marius’ eyes perked up at this then he retorted.
“Headmaster just because it is the house of Vampires does not mean that all of them will come to attack me. I mean Ravenclaws can also try to test their hexes and curses on me and Werewolves might punch the lights out of me just beacause they cannot hold their temper”, he said quirking his eyebrows and the Headmaster’s eyes widened then he broke out into a smile.
“What an interesting lad you are Mr. Clarke, you do not allow prejudices to cloud your entire mindset. Many might not get along with your idea but indeed you are right, and I think it is time to unite these houses don’t you think?”, then Marius tilted his head as if he does not know what the Headmaster meant then said.
“I do not know what you mean Headmaster”, then Dumbledore smiled at this before he opened the door. The strong smell of potions assaulted his senses as soon as they entered the room, a dozen of students in pairs were chopping and mixing in their cauldrons. There were no sounds present except for the chopping, bubbling and soft whispers of students, they were all concentrated in their works that they did not notice him nor the Headmaster enter the room.
‘And they call themselves vampires and werewolves’, he almost rolled his eyes at his own thought but controlled himself, then a drawling voice was heard and it made his stop his sight seeing only to find that all eyes are on him.
“Headmaster”
“Ah Professor Snape I was about to send one of yout students to fetch you in your office”, he said amused.
“Well that is no need Headmaster, instead may I ask what is a human doing in my classroom?”, he raised his eyebrow in question at Marius’ direction.
“Ah Professor, I’m sure you remember in our meeting this early morning, this is Mr. Clarke and he is here to take the needed exams for him to enter in our school.”, Marius kept his head down as he noticed the hungry eyes of the students and he did not dare look up.
“Very well, you may leave him in my care”
“Excellent, now Mr. Clarke. After your exam with Professor Snape he will kindly escort you to Professor McGonagall, won’t you Professor Snape?”, then he turned to look at Professor Snape who looked about to snap but was holding it in.
“Of course Headmaster”, then Dumbledore left the room after waving a hand to Marius smiling.
“Now Mr. Clarke please take any seat you wish to occupy”, and he nodded his head, seeing an empty seat next to what looked to be a Gryffindor, he took his seat there and the rest of the class still stared at him.
“Sixth Years! Pay attention to your cauldrons or I will take points from every single one of you”, Professor Snape’s threat was taken seriously and they all turned away and continued on making their potions.
As Professor Snape went to his desk to pick up some books, he turned his head to the sixth year seated next to him and saw that he is currently struggling with his potion. He took a peak at his book and he saw that they are currently brewing the Draught of Living Death. He noticed that the student next to him is about to put another ingredient on his potion, Marius stopped him before he was able to do it.
….
Neville Longbottom was having a bad day, he just turned 16 the same as Harry and the worst part was it that he found out who his mate was. He had been struggling on how to tell his mate nor his pack mates who his mate was but he was terrified of doing so. He knew he would probably be shamed and kicked out of the pack if they found out who it was.
Starting with potions as their first subject along with Slytherins made it a whole lot worser, because he woke up late he found out that he has no partner as someone from the vampires took a sick day. And now he was struggling to make the potion by himself and the sneering of Professor Snape did not help at all.
He was about to sigh in relief when he thought the Headmaster was about to cancel their classes because of some emergency but he was wrong, instead a human was about to take exams to be able to attend Hogwarts. They were all shocked and stunned at this, ever since those incidents years ago no human has dared to enter Hogwarts any longer. He was even more stunned when the said human sat next to him, his eyes cast down, there were no signs of fear nor nervousness gracing his whole being, just—pure indifference.
When Professor Snape shouted at them he turned back to his potion, he was already so distracted for the day that he did not notice that he was about to place more than the said amount of Valerian root. A hand stopped him from putting the Valerian root to his cauldron and he snapped his head only to see the human doing so.
“Uhm..”, Neville began as he was wondering why and the human pointed it towards him and his eyes widened.
“You are about to put too much, which would’ve caused your potion to explode”, he merely stated then he let go of his wrist, then Neville slowly lowered his hand and began to take the proper amount then dropped it on his cauldron, he sighed when the cauldron did not explode then he turned towards the human.
“Uhm thanks”, then the human merely nodded. When he noticed that Professor Snape was approaching then bringing some books he looked away and began to stir his potion slowly.
“Mr. Clarke, I will be giving you five different types of potions that you need to brew one for each year that you have missed”, Neville heard this and he could not stop himself when he suddenly blurted out.
“But Professor isn’t that too much?”, and both Professor Snape and the human looked at him as if he was saying something wrong, then Snape raised his eyebrows at him.
“And your point Mr. Longbottom is?”, Neville stuttered and whe he was about to respond, the grey eyed human answered after he gave a small smile to him.
“There will be no problem about the tests Professor, but since I need to see Professor McGonagall for my exam later my I borrow five cauldrons?”, Snape’s eyebrows raised at this but ignored it and ordered two students to procure him what he asked.
“Will that be satisfactory for you Mr. Clarke?”, he sneered at Marius and he only grinned staring at the cauldrons.
“Yes thank you Professor”, as he was given the books and what potions he needed to brew he began reading the books thoroughly then as if in a daze, he arranged the cauldrons so they were surrounding him and only allowed a small place for him to walk out of the desks to pick up the ingredients.
Not knowing where the ingredients cabinet is he slowly poked the boy that was sitting near him, he could’ve poked the Gryffindor boy from a while ago but he was busy stirring so he thought not to.
“Hey..sorry for interrupting you but where is the ingredients cabinet?”
“Uhm..it’s that way”, then when he noticed that he had a lot of ingredients to carry he sighed. Then the boy he asked from shared a look with his partner and he shrugged then he offered.
“Want me to help you?”, Marius thought for a while before nodding and they both headed to the ingredients cabinet.
“Thanks”
“I’m Blaise by the way. Blaise Zabini”, he said as he offered his hand to Marius and he shook it.
“Marius. Marius Clarke”, then they both picked up the ingredients and headed back to the desk where Marius decided to place his ingredients then he took a peek at their potion then said.
“You should use 13 Sopophorous beans for the juice not 12, then stir seven times anti-clockwise then clockwise once”
“Wait but that’s not what is written on the book?”
“Believe me”, Blaise grinned at him and as he left the ingredients at the table he trapsied off to his partner’s side and told him of what Marius said.
….
Severus Snape kept a keen eye on the newcomer, seeing how the boy easily weaved his way through chopping, slicing and dicing the ingredients with precision. He was even humming to himself as he was mixing and adding ingredients one after another, without hesitation.
For a minute he saw a glimpse of someone he knew in the boy but he shook his head, he knew it is not possible. He had given the boy the following potions to brew: Forgetfulness Potion, Sleeping Draught, Shrinking Solution, Draught of Peace and added a Sixth year potion in it, Amortentia, he had not named these potions and allowed the boy to see if he would be able to know when and where one has to brew that specific potion and also he hoped that the child will fail. Hogwarts is no longer safe for humans and Dumbledore’s thought of changing this has caused this child to be like an animal to be fattened for slaughter.
He sneered when he say the boy just finishing up two of his potions and he also noticed his students casting a curious eye on the human. If the child ever get to pass all his exams he is sure to keep him by his side, Slytherins will try their hardest to take a bite at a new prey after all.
…..
Harry was shocked to see a human actually entering the school in a very long time, that he nudged Ron hard he almost toppled off his seat, which made Ron grunt in response and he threw an apologetic look and continued staring at the human.
He wached him closely, white blonde-almost white hair he looked like sore thumb amidst all of them who had dark colored hairs. Then when the human noticed that they were all staring at him, he merely bowed his head but he did not feel like he was embarrassed, nor scared he did not look like he should feel something.
Harry tried his best to see what the human’s eyes looked like but because he was by the middle part of the desks and he sat next to Neville who is currently at the back of the class alone, he gave up and decided to just focus on their potion along with Ron.
“What is wrong with him?”, Ron whispered at Harry.
“What do you mean?”
“I meant why doesn’t he smell like fear or anything at all?”, then it suddenly registered to Harry that even he could not smell anything from the human. He knew that every being has their own scents that make them unique but that human has no scent at all.
“Maybe its because of the fumes of the classroom that is making our noses not function properly”, he tried to reason out and Ron just shrugged his shoulders and they both continued on their brewing.
A sudden voice from Neville made them all look back to see that Neville was questioning their Potions Professor, a lot of them quirked their eyebrows at this. Neville never talks back nor asks a question to Professor Snape even if his like depended on it, especially Professor Snape. Everybody knows that Neville Longbottom feared the Vampire Professor so much that it affects his brewing.
Harry’s eyes widened when he saw the small and brief smile that the human gave to Neville and he finally saw the human’s eyes for the first time. They were liquid silver, but when he blinked it hardened to that of a stormy grey. It was fascinating how easily it changed along with his demeanor, and the way he manipulated Snape to let him borrow five cauldrons for him to use.
“Hey mate, I know the human is interesting but I need you here in brewing”, murmured Ron and Harry shook his head and turned his head away and began trying to make the blasted potion.
A few minutes later he then saw the human walk out of the ingredients cabinet along with a Slytherin, Blaise Zabini. His eyes followed them until they both laid out the ingredients to the human’s table and the human whispered something to Zabini that made the Slytherin look confused. Then the human said something then grinned and Zabini grinned back at him, nodded and walked back to his desk with Nott, sharing what the human told him. He wanted to know what he said to Zabini but due to the silencing charms that Professor McGonagall infused in all of the classrooms, their heightened hearing is rendered useless.
His eyes then travelled back to the human—no Snape called him Mr. Clarke, he is Clarke then. Then watched as Clarke easily chopped, diced, mixed, stirred and added the ingredients as if he had already done those potions regularly. He was not even looking at the books to follow instructions and he was even humming.
‘Damn, he is good’, he then heard a sigh by his side and saw that Ron is shaking his head.
“Harry I know the new guy is hot and all but please help me with this potion then after you can oogle at him”
“I am not oogling him”, he said defensively and crossed his hands at his chest and huffed.
“I mean just look at how he brews each potion, he doesn’t even look at the books for guidance and he is even humming”, and Ron took a look and that was when they saw Marius already finishing up two of the potions and now bottling them up.
“Okay, I think Hermione would need to know about this”, Ron said.
“Why?”
“Because I mean look at that kid, he might even get a praise from Snape with how he does it and Hermione would die to know the secret on how to get an O at Snape’s class”, Ron said flailing his arms.
“Oh”, then they both started chuckling which earned them a glare from Snape himself and they both stopped immediately, then with a last lingering look he began to concentrate with their potion.
….
Marius smiled to himself when he was about to brew the last potion in his exam for potions when he realized that it might cause some problems seeing that there are werewolves and vampires present, that has heightened senses. So he decided to raise his hand and hope that Professor Snape would notice him. And as soon as he raised his hand the Professor raised his eyebrow at him and he began to drawl in a bored tone.
“Is there something wrong Mr. Clarke?”, then he placed his hands at his side then tilted his head.
“Professor would it not cause a disturbance if I suddenly brew this potion?”, Snape stood up from his desk and began to head his way.
“And what potion is it Mr. Clarke?”, then with a blank face he answered the Professor.
“Amortentia, sir”, several students snapped their heads at him and Snape tried to suppress a smile on his face.
“What makes you think it is Amortentia?”
“Well Professor, Ashwinder eggs are common ingredient in many varieties of love potions, as are Rose thorns, peppermint, Moonstone and Pearl dust which is an ingredient for all love potions. And to have all these ingredients all together it only means one potion, Amortentia”, Snape grinned at him then easily hid it with his drawl.
“And why have you decided not to brew it?”
“Well seeing that all students present here are all both werewolves and vampires, meaning their senses are more heightened they might go on a rampage and instead of mild obsession, they might decide to kill the person they are most attracted to”
‘Smart kid to be able to identify the potion and decided not to brew it’
“Fifty points to Hufflepuff, and you may not brew that potion. Perhaps you can assist Mr. Longbottom in his potion as I am taking you as a student of mine now in this class. So you better pass all of your exams.”, he said then his robe billowed along with him as he returned back to his seat and continued grading some essays. He ignored the shocked expressions of his students and when he lifted his eyes to gaze back at them one glare made them all continue their brewing.
Marius helped Longbottom salvage his potion that can earn him a passable grade. Marius suggested they redo it but Longbottom was adamant that it might bother him so he went along with it.
As the bell rang students began placing their potions into a vial with their name on it passed it to Snape. Marius stayed at his seat waiting for the Professor to escort him to Professor McGonagall.
"Uhm, Clarke thanks again for helping me", Longbottom said playing with the hems of his robe looking down. Marius tilted his head, then gave him a grin.
"Hey its ok, i know you just feel intimidated by the Professor but with a little nudge you can pass this subject with an O", Longbottom's eyes widened at this and he looked about to laugh but then instead his cheeks flamed.
"No i can't", he said and Marius noticed that he lacked confidence in himself so he hummed and an idea popped in his head then he held out his hand in front of him making Longbottom stare at him.
"Marius Clarke, pleasure to make your acquaintance", he grinned at him and Longbottom's eyes widened, after a short hesitation he shook Marius' hand.
"Nevile Longbottom, but please call me Neville", he smiled shyly at him.
"Then call me Marius", he stated as they both let go but then Neville’s smile suddenly disappeared and bowed his head and Marius looked behind him to see what made him do that only to see, Blaise Zabini smiling down at him.
“Hey Mari”, he smirked at him and Marius raised one eyebrow at him.
“Zabini”, he nodded curtly then sneaked a peek at Longbottom who is still looking down but now he is fidgeting and seemed restless, then he looked behind Zabini to see his partner looking warily at them leaning on one of the tables near them.
“Please call me Blaise, by the way your suggestion earlier made our potion better, how’d you know about that anyway? Hey can you tutor us and Theo some time…well after you get accepted that is”, he said then motioning to his partner who is called Theo.
“Apologies, I’m Theodore Nott, but you can call me Theo”, he introduced himself and Marius gave a curt nod.
“uh…I-I should go”, Neville stuttered and before he was able to leave Marius pulled him back and placed his arm on his shoulder then turned to Blaise with a huge grin.
“Sorry but I promised to tutor Neville in potions first”
“What?”, Neville and Blaise said at the same time and they looked at one another before Neville looked down again his ears looking a bit red. Marius smirked at this and it looks like Theo has a bit on inkling at what is happening and raised one of his eyebrows before he spoke.
“Blaisey, aren’t you crap at Herbology?”, Blaise’s head snapped to face Theo so fast it almost cracked.
“Don't.Call.Me.Blaisey. And you didn’t have to say that out loud Mr. Just-Read-The-Books-And-You’ll-Pass”
“Well Blaise right in front of you is the one with the highest grade in Herbology, Longbottom himself, don’t you think it would do you good to seek his help?”, now Neville looked about to faint and Marius almost chuckled but controlled it.
“Hey if you guys need help in Potions I will gladly help you along with Neville, and Neville can help you with Herbology and you can help me in both Vampire and Werewolf Studies along with History. How about it, I mean it’s not that bad if we study together, right?”, he waited for their responses and Blaise nodded along with Theo.
“Well see you soon, Marius”, Theo called out before they left the room.
“Uh-uhm..I don’t think it is a good idea, I’m a werewolf and they are vam--“, Neville did not get to finish his sentence as Marius pinned him with his grey eyes.
“So are you just going to give up your happiness because of some war, your dumb ancestors began?”, Neville’s eyes widened at this and he could not find any reason to tell Marius that it is wrong, his mouth was merely agape.
“If Fate tied your red strings together, then I guess no one in this world would be powerful enough to go against that don’t you think? After all we can never go against her.”, hearing those words made Neville smile and felt hope rising in his heart, he felt it, there really is something about Marius that makes him--uniquely him. When he saw Marius smiled at him, he felt as if he saw the moon, the strongest light in the darkness of the night. And in his heart he hoped, that someday, somehow the world will change and the races will find peace in each other.