Year 2 - Resistance and Revolts
Avalon School for Magical Beings
Severus Prince
The past year had been the best of his life. It all began when the Dark Mark was finally removed from his person making him feel like a new creature. It didn’t take him long to visit Gringotts on the recommendation of Headmaster Flitwick, to settle any matters that he may not have done before because the next few years would be spent in isolation at Avalon. This move turned out to be another rewarding step to making him a completely free man. Upon visiting Gringotts, he was informed of the Prince inheritance he was afforded through his mother.
His work with potions was now his life. His social connections were limited to his two apprentices and Rubeus Hagrid. Rubeus was an unexpected companion. As a final hurrah for his Dark Arts Mastery, his Master had scheduled a duel against one of the school’s most promising duellist. On the day of the duel, he was shocked to find out it was Hagrid. Severus had vastly underestimated his opponent and had almost lost the match. Despite losing to Severus, Hagrid was gracious and told him that he would love to practice with the former Death Eater to improve his own skill and keep Severus’ sharp.
The final change in his life was Kathrine. She was a Master of Light Magic and a powerful half Veela. During his first week, she decided that he would be her personal project. One night while he was out, she snuck into his room and destroyed all his clothes. To say Severus was upset was a vast understatement. She was quick to offer him reparations for the damage she caused to his property. When he tried to deny her, she turned her Allure on full and managed to get him to agree to her ‘help’.
The next two days were spent in an impromptu Veela spa in Katherine’s room. She gathered her Vella ‘sisters’ and set about changing Severus beyond anything he thought possible. The first thing to go was his hair. He had no say in what happened so he sat and allowed them free reign on his haircut. They shaved the sides of his head and left him with a top knot. With the aid of a potion, the slowed down the growth time for his hair growth. Next were the most painful procedures conducted by Veela Healers. They broke his nose and had it set properly. No longer was his nose crooked and misshaped. Next, they vanished his misshapen yellowed teeth and used a variant, painful variant of the Skele-grow potion to give him straight pearly white teeth. After that, they began to teach him spells to maintain his hair and teeth. When he pointed out his work as a Potions Master, they taught him another spell to protect his hair from potion fumes. He was oddly touched by their concern.
The next day consisted of a FULL physical. The Veela Healers seceded he was way too skinny and undernourished. This led to him being prescribed with Nutritional Potions (which he brewed himself). Thinking he could escape them, he decided to have lunch in a secret location. To say he failed miserably would be a mistake. One of Katherine’s ‘sisters’ was always present in one of his class or met him at his door to ensure that he had his potion. The potion ensured he did not miss meals and had certain meal requirements based on how they are brewed. If a meal was missed, the individual would be subjected to hunger pains the likes of which they would never want to experience again.
They also provided him with a few replacement garments, none of which were black. Severus was horrified that he had no choice but to wear it. No amount of charms he applied to the garments changed their garish colours. This made him even more grumpy in his Tutorials. His attitude only lasted a day before he was confronted by Professor Green, the Head of the Potions Department. He was forced to attend courses in Education and Teaching as a method of ‘self-improvement’. Despite his vehement disagreement with this, he enjoyed his job enough to do it.
The next six months were an adjustment period that he was not expecting. He finally filled out enough that the Veela Healers had him discontinue the Nutritional potions and his daily exercises during Dark Arts dueling, improved his musculature by leaps and bounds. They also finally took him shopping to replace his entire wardrobe. It was a blessing and a curse at the same time. He had very little choice in what was chosen. At least the colours were not as garish as they were in the past months (he did not realize that the outfits were compliments of the very flamboyant Veela ‘brothers’).
While in Switzerland, the only purchase Severus made was at a wand-crafter’s shop. The man was nothing like Olivanders which was a relief. He was easily paired with a new custom wand. The wood was Yew and Ebony (like his old wand), representing the strength of his magic and his fortitude in using his magic in defense of himself and others. For cores, he was awarded a phoenix feather for a variety of magic especially healing, and the tail hair of a Werewolf Alpha for his ‘pack mentality’. It was a powerful wand that he appreciated and could not wait to use.
At the end of his first year, Severus was a changed man. He was still an unpleasant person in general but it was more so to do with his personality than any vindictive feelings and thus he was more easily tolerated in Avalon. His few friends also noticed that he was very protective of them as evidenced when Katherine’s boyfriend cheated on her. Severus cursed the Veela so badly that all his clothes will be ill-fitting and he was bald for two whole months. Even his teaching changed. His students and apprentices enjoyed his lessons and he was sought out after class for further help.
Life was looking up for Severus Prince and he was sure to make it stay that way.
Rubeus Hagrid
The past 8 years were eye opening and life changing for the half-giant. After the first seven years in time-flux, Hagrid started his Mastery studies in Magizoology, Education, and Defensive Magic. All these areas were difficult especially considering he was doing general studies and not narrowed down to Dragon lore or some other Mastery study. It still remained his dream to be a teacher at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and so he needed as much knowledge as possible.
He also made several acquaintances and even friends in Avalon, the best of which was Severus Snape turned Prince. The past seven months saw them meeting three times a week to duel and chat. Keeping up with Severus would have been impossible before completing his basic education, but now he did so with minimal difficulty. He was proud of himself.
One of the things he corrected in the past year was learning more about Giant culture. It was fairly easy with the resources available to him in the Avalon Library and the other half-giants who studied alongside him.
Romantically, he was doing well, he met the Headmistress of Beaubaton School of Magic in France. She was currently on a sabbatical to Avalon to see if it were possible to improve the quality of education her school offered. She was also pursuing a dual Mastery in Education(for obvious reasons) and Enchanting to compliment her Charms and Transfiguration Masteries. The pair had been on several dates already and were enamored with each other.
Despite his rocky early life, he was also making a name for himself in the Magical world. He had snuck into the Forbidden Forest before the beginning of the school year and convinced Aragog and his children to move to the only property owned by the Hagrid Estate. It was a small island off the coast of Whales that was home to a small family of Welsh Greens, and very fertile lands that supported a forest teeming with prey and predators. As part of their agreement, Aragog and his children allowed the house elves attached to the property to harvest some webbing and venom each month, as they do with all the other creatures that make the island their home.
This steady income caused the Hagrid vault to swell and he even had to have its dimensions adjusted to prepare for the influx of profit from the stored harvests (despite trying, Dumbledore could not adjust the percentage of material sale of what was harvested by the elves and so percentage material sale his father dictated was what was followed by the Goblins and elves. There were barns full of preserved harvested material).
Life was looking up for Hagrid. He was a few months away from a triple mastery and his dream job. All he had to do was complete his study and he would be the happiest half-giant there is or ever was.
*****
Flamel School of Magic
The remainder of the summer was miserable for Draco Malfoy. His father thought it in their best interest to move them away from everything he knew and all the plots of revenge he had planned. His new school was way better than Hogwarts academically, but he had no power there. The strict anti-bullying policy of the school had him in a twist on several occasion.
The was also his father’s new marriage to a french mudblood. The woman was unbearable and way too in love with his father for Draco to stand. His father ‘loved her nonetheless and had her adopt him during the Yule holiday.
This was both a blessing and a curse. Draco was now a Half-blood. His new mother was fairly powerful and he inherited this power along with a new ability. The Malfoi later called Malfoy family originated in France and were sheep farmers for many centuries before fleeing to Britain to escape the persecution of beast speaker. The Malfoy family were known for their ability to speak to Bovines and Avians. Draco was now an Avian speaker and he loved every moment of it.
His mother was also something of a Magical scientist and was now looking into expanding their family without the aid of his father’s testicles. He was hopeful that she would be successful, or else Drac knew he would be the alternative, and he did not want to be a parent before he was 15.
At the moment he was in his History class wishing he was at Hogwarts to help Theo Nott bring Potter to his knees.
Hogwarts School
The year was almost done and Harry was still seeing the tiara during his divination practice. The sight was unsettling, to say the least, but since it had no practical repercussions he chose to ignore it and keep it to himself.
The year was not a stressful one. With the help of the Prewitt-Weasley twin, spells and essays were easily handled. Even Hermoine was far ahead of the Hogwarts students of the same age due to associating with Harry and his friends.
The only real annoyance at Hogwarts was the ascension of Theodore Nott to the position formerly held by Draco Malfoy. Unlike Draco, Theo was fairly intelligent and sly. He was easily countered by the fact that his peers (who were equally devious) were not interested in taking down Potter or were woefully inept. Therefore, aside from a few confrontations, he was very unsuccessful.
Yule followed the same pattern as the year before with everyone gathering at Longbottom Manor to celebrate the holiday. Cayden and Susan were still in contact with their friends from Hogwarts keeping them posted on what to expect during the Summer for their examinations.
Ravenclaw Common room
Cho/Tom was becoming more impatient as the school year drew to a close, especially with the announcement that the school wards will be upgraded over the summer holiday. The ingredients for the power increase ritual were almost all collected. All that remained outstanding was Acromantula venom. A forest once crawling with the creatures, was now deprived of even one. It irked Cho/Tom beyond belief.
Now they needed to find the venom before the end of the year or Tom would need a new, more powerful host. The only issue with the second option is Cho’s new status as a social pariah. No friends and a known selfish individual made it impossible for the diadem to be passed around easily. Also as soon as he possessed another, Cho would be free to inform law enforcement about Tom. If she died suddenly, it would be easily deduced that she was exposed to possession. The situation was a loss on all sides.
But he was Lord Voldemort, he would not be hindered from his greater purpose so easily. If necessary, he would make the girl absorb one of his other Horcruxes for more power. That was the last resort, but it will be done if necessary.
Headmaster’s Office
Cursebreaker Julian Baker had somehow avoided the curse of the DADA professor for almost a second year. Now he was meeting the head teachers of Hogwarts and the Board of Governors to present his findings. He had a feeling the Headmaster will not be pleased with what he found.
“Mr. Baker your findings please,” the voice of Madam Longbottom shook him out of his musings. Madam Sinistra (Head of Slytherin), McGonagall (Gryffindor), Sprout(Hufflepuff), Vector (Ravenclaw), along with all the members of the board and Headmaster, all turned to hear what the Cursebreaker had to say.
“I have identified the general location of the curse and the mechanism under which it is located.” He paused to take a drink of water. “To get to the curse we have to have a Parslemouth to unlock the chamber underneath the 2nd-floor female restroom. We will also need a beast slayer to take care of what I believe to be a Basilisk.”
Gasps were heard from all those in attendance except the Headmaster.
“If this beast is killed, it can be claimed by the school to pay for the many upgrades that will be implemented in the years to come. Which we will discuss soon,” said Lord Leverage
“I agree. This could be a great thing for our school. Are there any other recommendations Mr. Baker?” inquired Madam Longbottom.
“I would recommend you contact Avalon School to provide some experts to assist me. I am sure they will do it for a fraction of the cost if you go through a guild or other route.”
“Noted. I do not believe that is necessary between the teachers here we will be able to flush out the beast with no additional costs,” simpered Dumbledore. He believed that the boon of no additional expenses would sway the members of the board.
“That will not be necessary. We will hire the EXPERTS, and get this done as soon as possible.” Lord Greengrass easily refuted the Headmaster’s assertions once and for all.
“Well thank you Mr. Baker. We will be in touch. Very soon.” Madam Longbottom
Julian quickly exited the room.
Change was in the air and nothing could stop it, and if they tried, they would be steamrolled out of the castle.