Chapter 3
Hogwarts new resident livened the place up like no other. The ghosts were more involved calling out to him every time they spotted him to chat for hours at a time. The portraits too were louder, sharing winks with the ghosts as if in on a secret that no one knew. Hogwarts itself came alive the floors moving under Martin to take him from place to place. Bringing something straight to him or him to it if he made so much as a passing comment of wanting it.
It happened with Harry once, Martin falling from the ceiling above him familiar smile wide across his face as he looked up at Harry from the floor, “ah yes, I didn’t know you were so close Harry!” The walls wavered as if giggling and martin patted the floor before jumping up.
He turned to the wall next to him and supposedly talked to thin air, “hello, what’s your name?”
“Greatest and kindest Lord Emrys sir has talked to Dobby!”
“Dobby, there’s really no need to flatter me. Harry, did you know Dobby here is following you around?”
“Umm, not exactly, sir-“
“Martin. Really, Harry, I’m not your professor.”
“Right - Martin. Err… Dobby is a friend of mine and now works for Hogwarts.”
“I see. Dobby are you aware that students are not allowed personal house elves while at Hogwarts?” Dobby’s lips wobbled, eyes filling with tears. “If you would like, you could work as a Gryffindor elf. But you would be expected to serve all Gryffindor students and as a member of staff you would get a proper salary and holidays. You will also be expected to act with decorum, this involves wearing the Gryffindor uniform. Do you understand?”
“Yes, my Lord Emrys!” The next second Dobby’s pillow case was replaced with a uniform Harry had never seen before. He was now wearing a smart black ensemble, including a cute waistcoat and velvet gloves, with a small red neckerchief that had the Gryffindor lion embroidered in gold. Martin smiled at the uniform with a dazed look as if remembering a joke from long ago.
“Please discuss with the Gryffindor head elf to get a full understanding on your role and privileges available to you.”
Dobby smiled wide dashing forward to hug Martins leg tightly and then vanished. Martin smiled at Harry and ruffled his hair. “I wonder what Severus is doing” he wondered aloud and then looked at Harry regretfully as the floor once again opened up below him leaving Harry chuckling to him self.
Harry shook his head and carried on walking, determined to talk to Dumbledore.
That dinner, after having been ghosted by Dumbledore for what seemed like the millionth time, Harry dropped onto the bench dejectedly. Hermione, who had once again spent the entire day in the library, smiled sympathetically at him, Ron slumped tiredly beside him, having been outside with the twins checking out the new tower.
“Did Professor Dumbledore ignore you again?”
“Honestly ‘Mione, It’s like I don't even exist anymore.”
“Oh, Harry, don’t say that. I’m sure Professor Dumbledore has a perfectly valid reason.”
“Oh like when he insisted I stay with the Dursley’s while everyone else stayed in my godfather’s house?”
“He just thought you would be safe there, mate.” Ron mumbled.
“When have I ever been safe there? What with my new neighbours being dementors and all.” Harry angrily stabbed his fork into his sausage. “Never mind that. ‘Mione, surely you can’t be studying for our OWL’s already, we’re only a week in!”
“What? Oh, no. I mean, I do have my revision time-table planned out - which you guys should be doing too; our OWL’s are important, you know - but, I’ve been looking into Martin.”
“Martin?”
Hermione grimaced at Ron’s table manners, “Well, into the Emrys family. Don’t you find it curious how no one knew there was a family that owned Hogwarts?”
Harry furrowed his eyebrows in thought, “I was so grateful he actually did something to help me, I’d forgotten he was the owner entirely.”
“What did you find, then?” Ron asked, leaning forwards.
“Nothing.”
They blinked at her, minds taking a while to process. “You found nothing…?”
“Absolutely nothing.” She shook her head, “According to all the books I’ve consulted, and one Slytherin conversation I accidentally overheard, the Emrys family does not exist.”
“But there’s no denying he is the owner of Hogwarts; the castle seems to bend to his wishes, literally.”
Harry nodded, agreeing with Ron, “we spoke a bit more when he was healing my hand yesterday, apparently he was using Hogwarts’ magic to do it, but the way he spoke of Hogwarts was like he sees the castle as a little sister.”
They sat in silence, eating their dinner while they thought more on everything, absentmindedly listening to the petty gossip about Martin and Snape around them. That had come as a shock to the populace of Hogwarts, finding out that the dungeon bat was close friends with the bright bubbly man and even accepted a hug from him.
“Come on, let’s go back to the library, I must have missed something.” Hermione got up and hurried away and Ron and Harry took a second to smile knowingly at each other before rushing to follow her; seems their mystery of the year has arrived.
“Find out anything about the tower?” Harry asked.
“Nope.” Ron quirked his lip, “though at the end it became more of the twins showing off their new items instead. Lee did try flying up to tickle the dragon, like the school motto, but even then nothing happened.”
Hermione looked back at them, “Maybe It’s only available from the Headmaster’s office, like when the Professors went in there last night.”
~~~~~~~
“Severus, have you seen Lord Emrys?” Severus looked up from his cauldron at the sudden appearance of Albus’ Patronus even as his arms continued steadily stirring the potion. “The portraits in my office wish desperately to speak with him; so much so that I’ve been asked to leave and not return unless I’m with Martin. The guardian unfortunately refuses to open for any password I give it.”
“He told me he had some business to conclude in the muggle world, Headmaster.” He said to his own Patronus, carefully decanting the potion. “Truly a pity that he does not plan to return tonight.”
“Indeed.” Came the reply while he readied himself for bed, he stopped and narrowed his eyes, slowly walking to his sitting room only to find Albus sat on what was previously a dark green sofa and was now a bed with a ghastly Gryffindor red that clashed horribly with the rest of the room. “It is a true pity that I find myself locked out of my chambers, my boy.”
Severus sneered, “Damn you, Albus.” He threw is arms in the air. “Just take the bed for Merlin’s sake.”
Albus’ eyes twinkled in that infuriating way that made Severus contemplate strangling the man with his own beard as he got up from the bed and walked towards Severus’ room stopping at his side - just out of view - to pat him on the shoulder, Severus eyed him from the corner of his eye. “It is very peculiar indeed, that Headmaster Black was particularly insistent that Lord Emrys speak with him, but perhaps more so was that, for the first time since I took up the mantle as the Headmaster of Hogwarts, the Founder’s portraits are occupied.” With that the door to his chambers softly closed behind Albus.
~~~~~~~
The next morning news had reached the world outside Hogwarts, naturally with numerous stupid articles being released; from the ghosts apparently leading a revolution against humanity to the new Dragon tower being Dumbledore’s newest ploy for power by trying to undermine and replace the Hogwarts Founders. Surprisingly, amongst all the speculation, surely hidden on purpose, was a note from the Minister of Magic welcoming Lord Emrys back to the wizarding world.
Hermione tilted her head in confusion, frustrated after not having found anything on the Emrys family, and peeked up at the staff table only to see Martin poking Professor Snape in the side urgently with a pout as the Professor patiently tried to drink his coffee, the morning paper ignored by the both of them.
“Come on, Severus! We need to go pick up Elliot.”
Severus stifled a yawn, batting his incessant hand away uselessly.
“I know you haven’t had anything to eat yet, but trust me we can get something to eat before we go.”
Severus grunted into his mug.
“No, just because we have time to get something before does not mean we can just eat here before we go. Severus~”
Severus sneered.
“Good!” Martin got up happily, “I’ll meet you at the bottom of my tower then; dress appropriately for a muggle area.”
Severus sighed and got up, ignoring his amused colleagues.
Later, Severus stood at the base of the tower, impatiently tapping his foot as some students openly gawked at him, he self-consciously glanced down at himself, wondering if he looked that different. He was still dressed in all black; black slacks paired with a black turtle neck and a black trench coat that he allowed to fly out behind him from non existent wind similar to his cloak. He felt safe to wear his usual dragon-hide boots with his wand carefully hidden in his sleeve. Half of his hair was pinned up with a clip Martin had gifted him, small enough that no one could notice the small sunflowers on it. He sniffed and ignored the students, standing still with his head held up high.
Finally, the door to the tower opened and Martin walked out, closing the door behind them and wrapping his scarf back around his neck. Around them students threw their arms up in outrage at the door, making the two stare at them in confusion. He hadn’t changed much and only added a black blazer jacket to his red T-shirt and black jeans and usual boots. Martin smiled at him, fluffing his hair.
“Where exactly is this Elliot Aurelianus, then?”
“All in good time, Severus.” He gave a cheeky smile and then opened the door again.
Severus pursed his lips as he looked at the muggle street through the door and at Martin’s urging head tilt, slowly walked through into it. Immediately he was hit with the stink of a London street, people bustling passed him without stopping. Martin followed him in, grabbing his arm and joining the flow of the crowd.
His nose flared at the smell of cigarette smoke before he was pushed inside a narrow muggle food shop. “Subway.” He deadpanned.
“Yeah. What do you want then?” Martin said, steering them to the queue.
Severus sneered at a wandering child, pleased when it walked away, obviously freaked out, clearly the Hogwarts students were mistaken. “Nothing from here.”
“Are you sure? Well, I suppose I do understand. But, El loves a Subway sandwich, you see.”
Severus hummed as he watched Martin pay for a single sandwich and receive it in a bag, ready to walk back out to the dismal street. He furrowed his eyebrows when Martin pushed him into the restroom instead.
“What are you doing?” He whispered sharply, dragging his feet to stop himself from being pushed into a cubicle.
“Just get in!” Martin whispered back as he furtively tried to push him in.
“I am not going in this muggle toilet, Martin!”
“Oh, mother above. Just trust me!”
“You’re making it extremely difficult at this moment.”
Just then they froze as they heard a flush from the second cubicle and watched it open. From it a teenager shuffled out awkwardly, staring at them bemusedly. The teen took his time with washing his hands and holding it under the dryer, often staring between them hesitantly. Finally, just before he left the teen shifted his weight from one foot to the other, “Is everything alright, dude?” He asked, staring right at Severus. “It’s just… my dad’s a police officer. If you need help or… anything?”
Severus brought himself up to his full height, “Everything is as it should be.” He enunciated carefully.
The teen gave a final slow nod and slowly walked out.
Behind him, Martin dropped his head between his shoulder blades with a giggle and Severus quirked his lip.
“Why are we in front of a cubicle in a muggle fast food joint, Martin.”
“The Library of Alexandria never stays in one spot for more then five minutes, I’ve managed to track it down to here.” He waved at the cubicle door. “Quickly now, before it moves to mother knows where.” He gave a final push and Severus stumbled in, still half expecting to fall into a toilet, he was pleasantly surprised to find a small entrance room instead.
“The Library of Alexandria.” He repeated. “Any chance it was named after the one that was destroyed?”
Martin smirked, “not just named after, it is the ancient lost library.”
“…And tracking down ancient lost libraries is a common job for you.”
Martin ducked his head, a delicate smile on his face, “I think it likes me.” He shrugged, “Once, a long time ago, when I didn’t know what else there was for me; it appeared. I would either spend some time in it, reading and learning to my hearts desire or it would drop me off somewhere and then pick me up when I was ready to move on, even if I didn’t know it at the time. And then one day, when I didn’t need it anymore, it began to visit me as a friend. By that time, it was easy for me to notice it’s pattern.”
Severus paused, unsure of what to say, Martin pat him on the shoulder once, twice.
They walked up to the front desk, where two papers were neatly placed besides two quills and an ink pot. Martin dipped his quill and began writing, Severus turned to his paper. On it writing appeared in an emerald cursive, spelling out:
‘What are you most curious about, Severus Tobias Snape?’
Beside him, Martin winked, folded his paper into an aeroplane and threw it at the wall behind the table; the second it made contact Martin vanished and the paper flew through the wall.
Severus turned back to his now blank paper and hesitated, feeling strangely introspective.
Right at this moment he was most curious about: the library, Martin, Martin’s relationship with the Library, Aurelianus, Marin’s relationship with Aurelianus, Hogwarts’ magic, Martin’s relationship with Hogwarts, Martin’s relationship with Magic, et cetera.
Other times he was most curious about: Potions, how the field of potions will advance in the future, what Martin thinks of potions and how it will advance in the future, Martin, whether his students will ever learn anything, what Martin thinks of the way he teaches, Albus’ next plans, the Dark Lord’s next plans, his own next plans, what martin thinks-
He paused, blinked at his own ridiculousness - he’ll have to ask Martin if the library affects every newcomer in this way - and scratched out a spidery ‘Everything’ before flying the paper to the wall with his wand, the next moment the entrance was empty once again.
On the other side, Severus opened his eyes to an open hall showcasing numerous floors above him, every floor had ceiling to floor bookshelves with ancient scrolls and leather bound books neatly stacked away, with fire crackling and dancing in torches. Curiously, he peered in the bookshelf closest to him only to find that the books either had no title or were written in a language unknown to him. He walked slowly to the centre of the hall, in awe of the marble statues lining the open ceiling. Distantly, he could hear waves crashing on sand and trees rustling in the wind - could smell the salty sea air.
Avoiding the intricate instrument in the middle of the room he hesitantly called out to Martin. As if summoned a scroll flew out from above, rushing straight to him, he stepped back, unsure when the scroll continued to gain moment instead of showing any sign of slowing. Swearing he ducked, narrowly missing the scroll as it shot straight into where his head might of been, he raised his wand to it, uncaring for it’s potential value. Though, no matter how much he tried, the scroll was headfast in it’s purpose, which was apparently splattering his brains inside an ancient lost library.
“Martin!” He called out, frustration echoing in his voice.
Finally, he heard steps walking closer behind him, managing to dodge the scroll he sharply turned around, but where he expected to see a sheepish Martin, instead he found himself faced with a heavily tattooed brown skinned man who simply reached out and grabbed the scroll in front of his face when it turned to move back to Severus.
Severus massaged his temple with a sigh, “Thank you, Mr Aurelianus, is it?”
“Here, I am called Disciple Aurelianus, Potions Master Snape.” He lowered the scroll revealing a blindfold covering his eyes, the blindfold was white with golden runes covering every inch of it, a stark contrast to his black hair that was both longer and thicker than Severus’ own, Disciple Aurelianus smiled down at the scroll and held it out to him on an open palm. “It has been a while since I have seen The Library so frustrated with the answer it received, of course it knew the answer well before you stepped foot in here, Potions Master Snape.”
“Oh, I remember it so vividly.” Martin chuckled from behind Disciple Aurelianus. “It would not stop chasing you until you admitted exactly what you needed; even if you were truly curious about everything.”
Disciple Aurelianus turned his head with a wide grin, “Emrys! To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?”
Severus reached out to take the scroll, holding it far away from him as Martin held up the sandwich bag. “Let us eat first, Potions Master Snape and I have yet to break our fast.”
He raised an eyebrow at the title, looking up from where he had been peering curiously at the scroll and, remembering what Disciple Aurelianus had said about names inside the Library, slowly inclined his head, “Lord Emrys is correct, moreover, I am exhausted after my initial encounter with the scroll.”
They sat together on one of the tables, the open ceiling allowing for the suns rays to warm them. As they sat a plate full of food popped up in front of Martin and Severus, Disciple Aurelianus wasting no time to bite into his foot long and moaning out loud shamelessly. Severus noticed his plate was similar to what he’s served in Hogwarts and quirked a lip, hurriedly eating as he realised just how hungry he was. Beside him, Martin began trivial small talk with Disciple Aurelianus; asking him how he was and detailing his own return to Hogwarts, Severus was quick to notice how Martin embellished the uselessness of previous Defence Professors and how horrible the students had it, though he didn’t talk any more about it, letting the comment sit heavily instead. Severus nodded to himself, impressed.
Suddenly the scroll he had placed on the table rolled closer to him on its own causing Severus to grimace as he stared down at it warily, patting his lips with a napkin that appeared as his plate and cup vanished. “I assume, then, that I have not yet admitted to myself what I am most curious about?”
Disciple Aurelianus grinned, licking the last remnants of sauce from his lips, “Precisely. Quite vexingly the scroll refuses to open until you have.”
“And when it does it will, what - grant me the answer to life?”
“Well, it depends really, for myself, the scroll turned into a key which opens my chambers here in The Library. By doing so, I was able to then find the answer to my curiosity myself. The many lost souls who wander into The Library ironically have an easier time reaching within and being honest to themselves and the way their scrolls develop varies for each of them.”
“So it does not necessarily give the answer…”
“…but it may make the path a little easier”
Severus turned to a softly smiling Martin, “What was your scroll?”
“I did not get one.” Martins soft smile turned rueful and Severus cocked his head in silent question. “Noticing the Library was my admittance. Entering - my answer.”
In the end, convincing Disciple Aurelianus to accept the DADA Professor position didn’t take much more then a simple job offer, though Severus refrained from questioning the solemn nod shared between the two while they though he was not looking. Martin and Severus stayed until lunch time, Martin helping Disciple Aurelianus pack for Hogwarts while Severus walked along the shelves with interest, his scroll clutched tightly in his hands.
Severus had initially refused to take the scroll, unwilling to remove the surely precious artefact from The Library, Disciple Aurelianus had merely shook his head and pushed it at him more insistently telling him, “It came into existence the moment you stepped foot in The Library; by all rights it belongs to you and The Library has lost nothing.”
After eating lunch, which was delivered as a picnic on the beach outside, Severus narrowed his eyes at the door to the exit. “Lord Emrys.” He grit his teeth, “If The Library of Alexandria never stays in one spot for more than five minutes, where exactly are we going to end up on the other side?”
Two nearly identical mischievous grins faced him as the owners spoke in sync, “That’s what makes it so exciting, Potions Master Snape.”
The door wavered, apparently signalling another move and their queue for Martin pushed the door open and Disciple Aurelianus leaped out, Martin snatched Severus’ wrist and pulled as he too leaped through the door.
Severus tumbled onto a grassy floor as he cursed at Martin, the two idiots chuckling behind him. He picked himself up gracefully and breathed in once, twice, and then turned to slap Martin over the head with his scroll before waving it threateningly at Disciple Aurelianus, the effect nullified as Severus could not conceal a fond smile.
“Elliot Lance Aurelianus, please, call me Elliot.” He held his hand out for a handshake. “It’s truly an honour to meet you; I’ve heard so much about you, both from Emrys and as a Potions Master. I cannot believe I didn’t make the connection before.”
“Severus, then.” They shook hands. “It was my pleasure meeting you, I hope you will not mind any questions I will have in the future once I’ve had the chance to process all that I saw today.” Elliot smiled and nodded in acceptance, expressing his own desire to discuss potions before they turned to face Martin who cleared his throat, tilting his head to motion into the woods.
Severus gasped as he looked at the unicorn that watched them silently, he moved to slowly move back but was stopped by Elliot’s hand on his shoulder, when Severus raised an eyebrow at him he simply pointed back to the unicorn that was now inching closer to Martin. They watched, Elliot with a smile and Severus with parted lips as the unicorn butted its head on Martin’s leg who then the knelt down on one knee to pet it familiarly. Severus eyed the beautiful scene without blinking the memory etching itself in his mind.
“Keeper.” Elliot said, bowing deeply at the waist to an old man with a long staff-like walking stick that appeared where the unicorn first was.
“Librarian.” The man nodded back and turned to Severus. “I do not believe we have met before, I am Anhora, Keeper of the Unicorns.”
Severus copied Elliot’s bow and introduced himself.
“You are looking weary, old friend.” Martin stood up, looking at The Keeper in concern. Below him, the unicorn whined as Martin removed his hand causing Anhora to smile.
“I will admit, it is a relief to see you, old friend.”
“Anhora, there is nothing you could ask of me that I will not do. Let me help you any way I can, please.”
“Emrys, we both know the balance will always prevail. Your return gives us hope and I know you will not fail us. However, we are patient and we cannot ask this of you just yet.”
“Until then.” Martin smiled gently as The Keeper and the unicorn disappeared, but soon dropped his smile and heaved a sigh. “Come, let’s hurry to Hogwarts, this reminds me of one meeting I’ve obviously put off.”
Even then, the ‘meeting’ only happened after dinner when the professors were gathered in the staff room, some sitting together marking, some reading with their feet up and some sat around Elliot and Martin as they played chess. It wasn’t usual to see all the professors in the staff room, the majority of them usually choosing to stay in their own chambers our visiting another professors most of the time, but there was something about Martin that invited and welcomed them all. Fortunately, the ghosts had taken over the patrol job with the castle helping them with wayward students and a only simple report to House Heads in the morning.
Elliot let out a frustrated grumble, Minerva tutting beside him, as Martin beat him once again despite the hints Minerva threw his way.
Filius finally returned with a chuckle, having stepped out to answer a students question. The seventh year Ravenclaw student had looked horrified when she first knocked on the door and opened it to see all the Professors staring at her and had only managed to stammer out a call for Filius after two minutes of awkward fumbling. Before Filius could sit back in his armchair and pick up the book he wasted no time to borrow from Elliot, Martin called out to him.
“Professor Flitwick, could you get in touch with a Goblin friend of yours for me?” He motioned to the Floo. “I’m afraid I’ve missed an important meeting.”
“Please, call me Filius.” He blinked, “now?”
Martin nodded happily.
Filius looked around at the staff who didn’t hide their curiosity, “Here?”
Martin quirked his lip, “an audience will only serve to drive the message forward.”
Filius shrugged and threw some powder into the Floo, poking his head in and speaking hurriedly in gobbledegook. The second after Filius moved, a Goblin stepped out of the Floo; annoyance rolled off the Goblin in waves as he sneered at the Professors before he froze, meeting Martins blank eyes.
“Emrys!” The Goblin squeaked, scrabbling to bow so deep his head touched the floor as he blurted out words in gobbledegook and rushed back to the Floo, comically tipping some on the floor in his haste.
Martin smirked in a self-satisfied way and Filius stood with his jaw dropped, “He’s… He’s calling the K-king?!” Filius gave himself a tap down, eyes frantically looking over himself and them but before he could say anything the Floo flared to life and out stepped the Goblin King in full armour with a sword at his waist. they scrambled to stand, unsure, though they noticed Martin and Elliot stayed sat and hesitantly sat down.
“Lord Emrys.” He bowed to Martin causing Filius to sputter silently.
“King Ragnuk the third.” Elliot silently got up and sat beside Severus, the chess pieces solemnly moving back to their places as Martin invited the King to play with him.
The game that followed was incredibly fast paced, where neither players stopped to think for more than a second, pieces were destroyed before even they realised and all the while the two kept up a tense conversation.
“Imagine, King Ragnuk, being me.”
“I would not dare, Lord Emrys.” The King replied in perfect English, with a simple raised eyebrow at the staff in the room.
“Imagine, being me.” Martin reiterated patiently and the king inclined his head. “Returning back to our world, only to hear, that one of ours has been… denied our language.”
“He is half of us.”
“You forget me.” The King reared back as if hexed.
“You are Emrys!”
“If my mother could hear you now…” The King’s king was brutally beheaded and Martin clasped his hands, looking down at the King with an empty look in his dark eyes, the pieces stayed in that position, not taking the opportunity to cheer or grumble like they would usually. “Imagine being me.” Martin said softly. “and look around us.”
The King obeyed, looking at them with new eyes, pausing at Filius and returning back to meet Martin’s gaze.
“Out of all of us in this room, only three of us practise the Old Religion when there should be four. We are dying out.” The king clenched his jaw. “We are dying out and you are killing us.” The King squeezed his eyes shut, bowing his head. “I mean no offence, King Ragnuk, but there is a difference between ‘not able’ and ‘not allowed’, and imagine being me.”
The King gave a small nod and cleared his throat, “If you’ll excuse me, Lord Emrys, our court has much to discuss. It is my wish that you might visit us sometime, now that you have returned. Profess- Goblin Flitwick, we will be getting in touch with you soon.” Before he left he reached out to pick up the head of his King, silently asking to keep it.
“I…” Filius gulped, his voice hoarse.
“It would have been an honour to teach you myself, Filius, but I understand it is in your culture to learn from your kin.”
“Yes. I… Thank you. I-” He squeaked, “Have I missed something? Lord Emrys… Who are you to the Goblins? Our King bowed! And I…”
“Perhaps you’ll write an essay on me, yes? It will be my pleasure to look over it for you before it is marked.” He winked.
“…An essay. Of course, yes, right!” He tumbled as Pomona slapped him on the back giggling, breaking the tension in the room as they chuckled.
Later, when Severus finally looked up from where he was explaining his mastery to Elliot, he was shocked to find the staff room empty and the fire burning low. Severus walked Elliot to the Defence Professors chambers and headed straight to his, yawning as his tiredness finally caught up with him.
Severus opened his door and closed it again without stepping in, he blinked and rubbed his eyes, counting down in his head before opening his door again.
Albus waved at him merrily, smiling brightly and dressed in his night clothes.
“No.” Severus said, and closed the door. Storming away from his chambers and out of Hogwarts, stomping grumpily to the Dragon’s Lair and yanking open the door the popped into existence and faded away behind him. He sneered at the familiar staircase and opened another door that seemed to vibrate at him, inside was his own room from Martin’s flower shop, immediately his anger left him as he trudged up to the bed and fell in it.
~~~~~~~
Harry shared a glance with Ron and Hermione as they walked into their DADA classroom, the new professor seemed well liked by the morning class of their year Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs, but at this point, everyone seemed to wait until they’d seen their new Professor interact with Harry Potter before having any opinions.
The new Professor, who had arrived last night, sat with Martin and Snape for dinner and breakfast this morning, both times he was locked in conversation with Snape, with Martin fondly filling their plates.
They hesitantly sat in their usual seats, even the Slytherins were cautious as they silently stared at their new professor who sat cross legged and cross armed on his desk. His blindfold made it difficult to tell whether his eyes were open or not, whether he was watching them or not - Harry took a second to appreciate being able to see Snape’s eyes. His robes sleeves were pushed up showing his tattoos that spanned the entirety of his forearms and below his robes up to his neck.
The room had been redecorated, as usual, to showcase old books and scrolls as well as moving pictures that showed many curses in action and weapons, Ron gulped as a particularly sharp axe glinted eerily.
“Welcome to Defence Against the Dark Arts.” He said, his voice deep and low but sharp in the stillness. “I am your new Professor Aurelianus. It has come to my attention that your education has been greatly disadvantaged, I endeavour to right this wrong, which I can only hope to do with your assistance. Stand.”
They stood. The professor stood too, head turning as if taking assessing all of them before snapping his fingers. “As I understand it, I can gain an understanding of your theoretical knowledge from your last weeks work, this week then, will be to evaluate your standing on the more practical aspects.” Around them their desks and bags disappeared, along with the professors desk and the doors, they raised an eyebrow at the wandless magic. “I hope you were smart enough to keep your wands on you, and if not, acceptable in wandless magic. Wands out.”
Their wands practically snapped to their hands with how fast they’d grabbed it.
He tutted, “Do not point your wands at me, come to terms with the fact that your wands are potential tools of mass destruction, any wand pointed at me without me directing you will lead me to assume you mean me mortal harm and I will act accordingly, this is your only warning.” They moved their wads to point to the ground, even the Slytherins followed, observing to see how far they could go with the Professor Aurelianus. “Finally, before we begin our lesson in earnest, understand this. I do not care for your house, whether it be their traits, loyalty or even their colours, I simply do not care for it, in and out of this room. Therefore, unless stated otherwise, assume that the two teams in this room are you, collectively as a group, and myself.”
He paused, allowing them to take in what he said before he grinned, breaking his stern look. “With that being said, let me explain your evaluation.” he brought up a fist and from it dropped a chain with three bells on it, he dangled it, letting it jingle loudly and clearly. Harry felt a bead of sweat roll down his forehead, he had a feeling this was going to be an interesting lesson. “You may start after you hear three beeps, all you have to do is take these bells from me, one person grabbing even one bell is enough and will signal the end of the evaluation, if this is not the case, you have until the door appears again, signalling the end of our lesson. You may use whatever you like both in your arsenal and in this room with the exception of the three Unforgivables. As a final reminder I will say this; This is an evaluation of where you are in your education after four years at Hogwarts, your results at the end of this evaluation is the standard I will hold you to for the entirety of my time as your Professor. This is your chance to show me what you can do and prove to me that you are capable of learning all that I can teach you, keep everything I said in the front of your minds. It is my pleasure to be here today.” He smiled and bowed, clipping the bells onto his waist, and then -
Three beeps blared out, and chaos descended.
The first waves of cautious Accios produced no result, the glow of the spell simply disintegrating before it managed to reach the Professor. It was after Harry called out an Expelliarmus that the Professor simply evaded that the class truly delved into the task. Stupefys and Petrificus Totalus’ were called out, followed closely by Bombarda and Confringo and more. Despite all the curses and hexes, not once did the Professor bring up even a simple shield charm, choosing instead to lean in with his full body into an elegant dance as he twisted and bent to evade everything that was shot at him. This caused his classmates to defend themselves from stray spells, with more and more of them losing the opportunity to attack in order to call a shield. Like this Ron lost his grip on his wand, watching it shoot up, he grimaced, fearing it might get caught up in another curse and be damaged or fall and be stomped on in the rush around them. Instead the wand froze in mid-air with a golden bubble forming around it, Ron felt a laugh bubble up inside of him, adrenaline coursing through him as he stood, defenceless in this battlefield without a weapon, he smiled at Harry who rushed to erect a shield around Ron protecting him from an Expulso. Ron pushed his way to the classroom wall, clutching the sharp axe and heaving it off the wall, he held it carefully, checking its weight before looking up to meet the bright eyes of Hermione and Harry. They timed it perfectly, Harry calling out a distraction and Hermione a perfectly directed Locomotor Mortis which caused the professor to dodge in such away that Ron was able to aim the projection of the axe perfectly to swipe along the professors waist, targeting the bells for Harry who had an Accio ready at the tip of his tongue.
The second he made contact, the body below him melted into the ground - disappearing. The spells around him stopped even as the axe continued it’s momentum and embedded sharply into the ground, they looked around frantically, heaving in deep breaths as sweat dripped from their hair. Looking around now, Ron could see a few students clumped on the ground with golden bubbles around them all.
A slow clap filled the air and they looked above them; the Professor was sat cross legged above the bubble holding Ron’s wand, he still had the wild grin on his face but in a stark contrast to them all, not a single hair was out of place.
“Alas, we have reached the end of our lesson.” He said, and sure enough when they turned to look the door was there once again, from the sight of shadows around them they looked back up to see their desks and bags lowly descending with the professor who held Ron’s wand gently in his hand, giving them time to move out of the way. “A second sooner and your tactic would have worked admirably, young man, well done.” He nodded at Ron and held out his wand, handle first.
Ron blushed, stammering out his gratitude as they sat back in their seats, still catching their breaths. The Professor glided to the front of the classroom, bell still tinkering away at his waist, he silently stood and watched them for a moment. Then he smiled and bowed, “Thank you for the wonderful lesson.” Hermione shot up, bowing and repeating his words back to him and the rest of the class followed.
The professor then walked to the door and held it open, waiting patiently with his palm held out before the open doorway, Lavender was first to rush out the door where she hesitated and carefully brought her hand up to connect with the Professor’s as a high five, the Professor huffed a laugh and Lavender stepped out and gasped, standing straighter, “It was to heal me!”
They looked at her closer, only now noticing that the scratches she had on her had gone and her hair was back to how it was before he walked in the classroom.
“And a high five, of course.” The Professor chuckled.
The students filed out, each of them walking past the open palm and felling refreshed and healed, the Gryffindors and some Slytherins boldly reached for a high five, each one causing the Professor to smile and chuckle happily. Finally, Harry was last to step out, excited to feel the magic as Hermione and Ron exchanged fond smiles, as he passed through making sure to high five the Professor and feeling his magic warm him, he stopped as the professor spoke with a curious head tilt.
“Your magical signature is one that is very peculiar, young man.” He said with a quirked lip. “In that it very nearly reminds me of my own, if not for something that seems to… block you.” Harry looked back at Hermione and Ron, confused, but the moment he looked back, the door had silently closed and the Professor was no longer there.
Harry shook it off, eager to head to dinner, “I liked that class.”
Ron grinned, stretching his body and then clasping his hands behind his head, “The Professor’s wicked cool; do you think he’ll start a proper duelling club?”
“I just can’t wait to actually learn something.” Hermione said, rolling her eyes at the thought of Umbridge.