Marvelous Return

Before they could follow the others Sirius turned Harry around. He remembered Harry’s delight at everything magical since he was born, and what they read from the books of his first visits to the magical world. He didn’t want Harry to miss anything. 

Sirius was expecting the inside of a building, maybe a Great Hall, but it wasn’t what they stepped into. 

On the side, he could see the Weasley boys dragging their dad further inside. Severus was looking around in awe, Remus was smelling the air as Luna was clapping from his arms, the others though impressed by the traveling method didn’t seem to find any of it impressive. 

The door led them to a large clearing, a path of red bricks led from the portal to a series of little cottages built to be children size. Severus was standing next to the first one and he could easily look over the house to the little garden on the backside, where children were tending to vegetables under the supervision of a lutin, probably a hobgoblin. 

The clearing was sunny and hot, so Sirius spelled the hot clothes off Harry. A small river was running on the far right, but as he watched one of the children get into it to get water for the plants he noticed it wasn’t deep enough to be more than a long puddle filled with pure freshwater. 

On the far back, they could see a forest, but again, the trees weren’t high, while they couldn’t see over it, they were only a couple of inches taller than the tallest adult. 

Everything seemed to be tailored to the little ones size. Even when they walked further and discovered a petting zoo, the goats, bunnies, hens, and poney all seemed to be of the miniature persuasion. 

All in all, it looked like the description of Santa’s village Sirius read about on the books they bought for Harry on the previous Christmas, only snowless. 

“Pa’foo’, down,” Harry asked him, and Sirius smiled and put him down on his little feet when he saw that the Weasley boys came to collect Luna and Harry so they could explore with them. 

“You stay close to Bill and Charlie,” Sirius told him and Harry nodded, taking Charlie’s hand when it was offered. 

“This is amazing,” Clint said still looking for every little detail. 

“Are all your professors lutins,” Severus asked gesturing to the house size. 

“No,” Miss Mullard told them. “The houses aren’t classrooms. While they have classrooms, most of the day is spent outside, taking care of the garden, walking through the forest, playing with the animals.” 

As she explained Natasha nodded. Sirius raised an eyebrow at her in question. 

“They live inside with their parents. With the size of the school and the diverse environment, if the kids were scared of the outside it would be detrimental in later years,” she explained. 

“Exactly,” Miss Mullard nodded. “There is no point in making them scared to approach animals or go in the forest. The whole first through fourth year curriculum is meant to instill confidence in the children. Confidence in their environment, in their magic, in their abilities. They are introduced to creatures early, as you can see,” as she pointed to the class still going on in the garden. “But also to beasts, the gentle friendly ones, to No-Maj and Magical users, and to diverse forms of magic. the whole point is to give them a wide array of experience while cutting the possible prejudices off before they can even form.”

“What will they be learning,” Arthur asked. 

“Gardening, obviously,” Miss Mullard said with a smile, “and socialization, but also their alphabet, numbers, languages as it is scientifically proven that it is easier for children to learn, coordination. Mostly, they run around, explore, and play, but every activity is meant for them to learn, be it what they can eat from the garden, or how to recognize a rabbit burrow. The garden is used in math, the professor will send them to collect 3 carrots for example, which means they’ll learn what a carrot is, but also what three means.”

“That sounds interesting,” Arthur admitted. 

“And less boring than standing alone at a desk with a tutor making you count again and again until you know it by heart,” Sirius grumbled. 

“What about magical training,” Remus asked. 

“Well, we have a few of what you call squibs in class at the moment so the classes are a mix but it’s been rarer as we integrate children and their families at such a young age that our DNA pool has expanded,” Miss Mullard said. 

Sirius wanted to ask, but Tony shook his head mouthing later. Apparently, he knew and would explain.  

“Magic is used in everything,” Miss Mullard pointed out. “Darcy told me she made you play with the bubble spell.” They all nodded. “This is basically the same all around, the children are free to use their magic for everything, but it’s especially true in this part of the school. I saw you watching as one of the children went to retrieve water. Unconsciously, she repelled the water and floated over it. Maggie hates getting wet, while not deep, the river is deeper than what you saw.” 

Everyone turned to look at the river and Phil went to put his hand in it and it went deeper than the puddle it seemed to be before. 

“In the green cottage,” Miss Mullard said and they turned back to her, “we have what the No-Maj call a funhouse. The floor moves, the walls disappear, the stairs change their destination, the mirrors will show you deformed reflections  of yourself. The children can either go through it as is and have a good laugh, or they can control it with their magic. If I remember correctly, Darcy froze the whole house for an entire day when she couldn’t yet control her powers and the spells were a little too enthusiastic about making her wishes come true, as she was channeling the desires of others they were all confused.”

Darcy grinned, telling them she loved that house. 

“So, they learn control by using their magic to make whatever they want to see happen, happen,” Severus summed up. 

“Yes,” Miss Mullard nodded. 

“I was worried about sending the boys to school already, but this seems like a lot of fun,” Arthur told them. 

“It does,” they agreed. 

“That would be for the twins, and Percy for now, and Harry and Luna in a couple of years, but what about Bill and Charlie,” Arthur asked. 

Miss Mullard gestured for them to follow her and they went to sit at a long table she resized to be comfortable for adults. From there they could keep an eye on the kids as they explored going from cottage to cottage laughing at excitedly talking about what they were discovering inside. 

“This is for children from ages three to six, she told them, though we thought Bill and Charlie could benefit from coming here every day until the new semester begins in January. This way they can adapt to the school environment, much of the school wards demand the children to know their magic and it would be easier if they knew what was expected of them.” Miss Mullard explained. 

Arthur nodded, though he asked the others, “What do you think?”

“They are yours Arthur, you can do what you think is best for them,” Remus told him kindly, so Arthur turned to Sirius. 

“Don’t ask me, I am starting to wonder if we can start all over again too,” Sirius told him with a grin as the children’s laughter could be heard from inside the green cottage. 

“I hate to admit it,” Severus said with a smirk, “but I agree with Sirius.” 

“You don’t have to decide today in anycase, one more week isn’t going to change anything,” Miss Mullard assured him, “If you want them to start in January that is fine too. You just need to tell us so we’ll know to expect them to be distracted by the way magic works around here. If you want to follow Britain’s way and keep your children home until they are 11, you are allowed to. Though MACUSA’s law states that children must be taught from the age of seven, you can enroll them in the homeschooling program. As British citizens, you are allowed more leniency, in case you decided to enroll them at Hogwarts.” 

“They won’t go to Hogwarts,” Arthur said with a growl which surprised everyone. 

Remus leaned over and hugged him, which calmed him immediately, though everyone was used to it by now, Tony looked at Nathan who nodded, giving Remus a considering look. 

“Sirius, Severus, and I, were among the best at school. We can teach them if you want,” Remus told him. 

“No, I like this place,” Arthur said with a smile. “I just wasn’t expecting them to go to school already.” 

“Well, let’s explain then,” Miss Mullard apostrophized them. “At seven, the students are transferred to the main building to start getting classes inside. At that age, we introduce them to passive conscious magic, such as runes, arithmancy, astronomy, which is taught from a projection no midnight classes until their WOMBAT’s years as they’ll need to read the map of that night so they’ll need to correctly identify the planets and their positions, while earlier on we teach them how to recognize them, what they mean, and how they influence our magic.”

Sirius was impressed, his family was well known for their astronomy prowess but he never heard of any of them learning this way, it seemed way better than what was going on at Hogwarts, especially when you had to stay awake in the morning when you had History. 

“You teach runes so early,” Severus asked. 

“We don’t teach them to create chains, or to activate them, as I said passive conscious magic,” Miss Mullard repeated but seeing their confused looks she explained. “What we use here is passive unconscious, they do not cast anything and don’t know they are even using magic,” she said, gesturing around them. “When they move on to the next level, they know what they will learn is how to use magic. They will have magical theory classes, but still no casting. At that stage, they are taught everything that doesn’t rely on them having a wand, in  Care they will learn what to feed the beasts or the classifications for example, and visit the beasts in their natural environment, but not actually taking care of them.” 

“Seems logical,” Clint said. “When you told us about Hogwarts,” he added but Sirius knew he meant when they read the books, “I couldn’t help but think that most of what you learn in Charms and Transfiguration, or even in Potions seems pretty dangerous and you don’t seem to have in-depth classes that explain how to hold your wand, how to power them, how exactly the match could turn into a needle, or what ingredients should never be put in the same potion unless you want to make it go boom.” 

“Yes, that kid you told us about who made everything explode all the time, it seemed like he had a problem understanding how to use his wand but no one ever took the time to explain,” Phil added talking about Harry’s friend Seamus.   

“It makes it easier this way,” Darcy admitted. “Runes and Arithmancy, as well as theory, help us understand what is expected of us when we start casting.” 

“Hogwarts only teaches it from third year up,” Severus said, “but we go over spells we’ve already learned as an example of how to construct our own. It always seemed logical, but I am starting to think telling us to imagine the feather was floating isn’t as efficient as telling us the feather will float because of runes and figures the Charm master put in the spell. I can’t even remember who created the spell.” 

“I don’t think we were ever taught about that,” Remus agreed.

“I always thought it was obvious,” Arthur countered. 

“Because you were raised in a wizarding household and your parents told you people invented the spells, and how. Plus, you knew the feather would fly because you saw them use the spell countless times. For someone who grew up in the Muggle world, we first had to believe it could fly for no reason other than some Hocus Pocus words and only two years later we learn someone did research on how to make the feather fly,” Severus told him. 

“When I went to school in the No-Maj world, before Hogwarts, I was taught about electricity and even some of how it worked and how it was discovered. Though I didn’t know how to make it myself, I knew the diverse household items in my house were working because of it. But I also know people hide outlets from little fingers because children will put their fingers in it not knowing they’ll get electrocuted, and do it again, because they don’t understand that it’s dangerous,” Remus explained. 

Arthur and Sirius didn’t know what to say to that, so they turned back to Miss Mullard. 

“Charlie will still be in that stage, and we can get him caught up,” she assured. “Bill is another thing, he will need to take those lessons on top of the ones from his normal curriculum, especially with his gift.”

“He will be behind,” Arthur admitted with a sigh. 

“Not necessarily,” Darcy said. “I talked to him and it seems the Charm master he has been taking lessons from this year taught him some of what he needs to know. He caught on easily to new things, and the mage sight will help as he can see the spell and the wards rather than it being some abstract concept.”

“Plus you can keep him with Charlie for a year if you wish,” Miss Mullard said. “We prefer to transfer the students to the active casting part of the school when their cores open fully at eleven, but if monitored he can stay in the passive section.”

“‘cores open fully at eleven’” Severus asked, though a bit swiftly. 

“Yes,” Miss Mullard said looking at them in surprise. “Cores open progressively from birth to eleven, at eleven you have access to your full core and the classes are meant to teach you how to use it properly and not overtax yourself.” 

“What about magical inheritance at 17,” Sirius questioned. 

“That’s for the Goblins to deal with,” she told them. 

“What’s wrong,” Phil asked, when Sirius, Remus, Arthur, and Severus looked at each other but stay silent. 

“We were taught our cores are still immature when we enter Hogwarts,” Sirius explained. “That they open as we learn, but also that we only get full access to our core at seventeen and it’s why we are monitored by the ministry before that.” 

“This makes no sense,” Miss Mullard rebuked, “If you don’t have access to your core, then how are you expected to cast anything? Not to mention, accidental magic is often more powerful before 11 as it is the natural way for your body to release the excess power. Think of it as a drain, if you only let the water dribble than it’s fine, but if you block it with something it will create a flood. As you grow into your core the magic dribbles slowly, but as your core isn’t fully open from time to time, often when emotions are high and will make the child tense, a flood will happen. But at 11, your core opens and the flow is continuous and strong, that is when you need to learn to cast. Any earlier and you could strain or rupture your core by asking for it to do too much - like trying to force a liter of water through a tap that only releases one drop per minute it will blow up. The only reason you are not taught self-transfiguration right away is that you need to build up your strength and your control. Overpowering such a spell could transfigure you permanently. It’s easier to make you learn to turn a match into a needle and teach you what needs to be done to make it either temporary or permanent.”

“This all makes so much sense,” Arthur sighed, probably as Sirius was thinking, Dumbledore was responsible. 

“I’d guess monitoring you until 17, is just that: monitoring you,” Darcy said. “Probably to make sure you don’t go and try the harder spells, as I suppose they only monitor students during holidays when they could be alone and as such in danger.”

“Don’t you monitor children in the same way then,” Sirius asked. 

“The school is open all year long,” Miss Mullard explained. “Of course, we all take vacations, but the children are welcomed on the ground any days.” 

“What about Summer or Christmas,” Arthur wondered. 

“You are free to keep your children home to celebrate or go on vacation, travel, they will get homework to keep with the schedule but our school works differently,” Miss Mullard told them. “The students only have a couple of hours a day with purely academic classes, while everything at school is meant for them to learn something you wouldn’t find them complaining about spending their Saturday afternoon playing sports, yet, it’s how we teach PE. Some of our older students like to come on weekends to tend to their patch on the Herbology sector, or to feed the beasts they are studying in Care. Those are still lessons, they just enjoy it, and volunteer for it. We tried the whole two months Summer Holidays thing, the students kept writing the professors to make sure someone was watering their plants, or if they could get this or that book from the library, or if they could come and use the mechanic labs. Plus, our students come from all over the continent, this is an easy meeting point and it’s secure enough that parents let them come and have fun on the grounds. We have everything they’ll need.” 

“Sounds like they’d just want to move in,” Arthur noted. 

“You’d think that, but no,”  Darcy laughed. “We still know they are teaching us stuff,” she said, sticking her tongue at Miss Mullard. “But it’s pretty fun to come here whenever we want, to do the stuff we like.” 

“Can you tell us what Bill will be doing,” Arthur finally asked. 

“We have a large array of subjects he can choose from. At 13 we do a placement test as well as orientation meetings and internships. Say a student wants to become a magizoologist but the Care professor tells us they are absolutely terrified of any beasts larger than a kneazle then sending them on an internship for a month can help one way or another. While the Caretaker here is pretty attentive to the students, there are too many to focus on just one, but maybe while on the internship the master will get them over their fear, or help them realize they should focus on something else. But it is also meant for someone who might want to become a healer, who isn’t scared of blood or diseases, but with abysmal grades in Potions, then we’ll focus their options more on our Potions curriculum and arrange for some tutoring,” Miss Mullard explained. 

“What are your core classes?” Severus asked sounding curious. 

“Arithmancy, Runes, Herbology, History - magical and No-Maj, Magical Theory, and Care” Miss Mullard listed. “As well as English, math, science.”  

Everyone looked at her in surprise. 

“Not every child will be gifted in Potion or Charms, or Transfiguration,” Miss Mullard told them. “It is not fair to put so much pressure on something that requires not only study time and readings, but also power, control, or affinities, and confidence. Some wizards will never be good at Transfiguration, and it is not a vital skill to have in daily life. Just as well, Charms are useful but No-Majs live their lives without banishing dirty nappies just fine.”

“How is Herbology, or Runes useful,” Remus asked. 

“You are right, they are not vital,” Miss Mullard admitted. “But they help understand the basics of magic, and Herbology is relaxing.” 

“What about Potions,” Severus wondered. 

“Do you know many of your classmates who brew their potions themselves,” Miss Mullard countered and Severus fell silent. “At Ilvermorny. we focus on understanding magic and all its aspects first, and for later years on what they want to become but also how to function as an adult. Our later years have options to learn how to budget their life or optional courses on household charms.”

“And you teach No-Maj courses too,” Arthur asked. 

“Most of our courses exist in both world versions,” Miss Mullard said. “In Herbology, they learn how to tend to Devil’s Snare just as much as they learn to tend to a vegetable patch. Our Potions department is also responsible for No-Maj science classes, such as chemistry, physics, or natural science, we noticed that while students are content knowing that they will find a bezoar in the stomach of a goat, but they don’t know where to find the stomach of a goat.” 

Severus nodded at this, telling them he learned this when he took his mastery. 

“Our Defense department teaches curses and countercurses, and martial arts, escaping techniques, self-defense,” She kept going. “We also have strictly No-Maj courses, such as mechanics, cooking without magic, creative writing. The parents of our Half Maj students were asked decades ago about how this or that worked so we implemented those classes. Though most only take them as options for a semester or two or for the summer, but some choose to specialize in it.” 

“And when you say department,” Remus asked. 

“Each course has several professors, depending on what they specialize in,” Miss Mullard explained. “As I was saying, we have a general Charms course, but also a household charms option, they are not taught by the same professor. Just as Potions Initiation, and Potions Speciality are not taught by the same master, this way the masters from the Potions Specialty have the time to monitor the experimentations of their students.”

“How many professors do you have,” Phil asked. 

“We have 158 professors currently, overall, with the caretakers, the healers, the vets, the farmers, we have the largest number of employees in the MACUSA,” Miss Mullard announced. 

“Wow, that’s…” Sirius couldn’t finish, Hogwarts had about 20 employees and that was it. 

“You need to remember that our community is bigger and while we have sister schools that tend to specialize in their schooling we are the main school. Plus, we provide products, be it potion ingredients or fresh produce for the markets,” she stated. “Our grounds also host the main university and apprentice program.” 

“This all sounds amazing,” Sirius admitted. 

“Darcy said they would be going home every day, but for the students who need or want a boarding school we also have caretakers, and a full staff dedicated to them,”she added. 

“That won’t be useful to us,” Remus agreed. 

Darcy cleared her throat, “They could stay for the night in case of an emergency,” she said as she looked to Phil, Tony, Natasha, and Clint. 

“That’s good to know,” Severus agreed. 

“We can go out unless you have other questions,” Miss Mullard asked. 

“What do you mean by out,” Natasha asked looking around them and up at the blue sky.

“We are not outside,” the man who came with Tony said. “Hi, I am Nathan Stark. This was my creation. We are under a controlled dome, the HeadCaretaker for the Littles group is in charge of the weather. I know she makes it rain at night to keep the grass green but dry in the morning. I know on the first snow day she’ll make sure the kids can play in the snow. If anyone gets hurt she is immediately alerted, and no one but the authorized personnel are allowed to apparate or disapparate from here. The ward will freeze any intruders in place.”

“I am sold,” Arthur said and everyone nodded. Sirius himself was impressed. 

As they turned to gather the pups they witnessed the most amazing thing. They were all talking while petting the miniature goats and Luna fell down on her ass when the goat Bill was petting headbutted him, but she didn’t cry on scream. She grabbed at Bill’s pants and lifted herself off the dirt then she took an unsteady step forward, Bill, Charlie, and Percy hovering as she let go of Bill to take another step and petted the goat who hadn’t moved as if sensing the importance of this moment. 

“She’s walking!!” Remus cried out and went to hug and congratulate his cub, the others following quickly, Tony already saying they needed a party to celebrate.