• October 15th, 8:00 AM •
• Faculty Room •
[Filius Flitwick]
The faculty room of Hogwarts is a room that's rarely visited by more than one or two professors at a time—not because they don't want to, but because the workload they previously had made gathering and sitting together to talk and relax very difficult.
The room itself was one that Flitwick loved staying in if he had nothing else to do, as rare as that occasion might be. He loved the ambiance of the room. It felt like history to him. The old floor-to-ceiling wooden bookshelves filled with books and magical tomes on the left side of the entrance. On the right side, the always-lit fireplace that was wide enough to make one feel the need to try roasting something, just to see what they could fit in there. The two big, old windows across from the entrance, with that old wavy glass that made seeing through them into the training grounds very difficult—yet he still loved how private and cozy it made the room feel when it was raining.
Of course, his favorite thing in the room were the chairs. And not the ones along the long oak table underneath the windows—those were for assignment grading or teaching-related tasks. No, his favorite thing was the sitting area in the middle of the room. The leather sofa and armchairs surrounding the tea table.
They were comfortable before, but after whatever enchantments Albus had added? They turned into clouds on legs. Seriously, sitting on any one of those armchairs was like putting yourself on the fluffiest, most comfortable seat one could ever have.
They'd brought on an addiction of sorts among the professors, which was why they had been getting together more often these days. Not that the reduced workload didn't have anything to do with it, but it was mostly the comfortable seats.
"Filius, what took you so long?" Just as he was appreciating everything, Minerva's voice brought him back. He looked toward the source of the sound and found her on one of the armchairs, arm draped over the back rail and side pressed against the backrest as she twisted her body to look back at him.
'She never would have even thought of twisting her body like that if she was still the old Minerva,' he couldn't help but notice how differently a young mind behaved as opposed to an old one.
"I am here now," he replied. "Where's everyone else?"
"I don't know." She turned around and adjusted her position as he arrived and took a seat on the sofa across from her. "They're probably on their way."
He let out a content sigh as he got comfortable, sinking into the clouds.
"So, how is youth treating you?" Minerva asked, raising a playful eyebrow.
"Surprisingly well," he replied, smiling widely. "My back doesn't hurt anymore, and I can actually move faster than ever before, so it's all good."
"Yeah, I saw your rank breakdown. A solid C+ rank with green coloring on all your practical and physical statistics. That is one solid evaluation."
"Of course, I only need to delve more deeply into developing my magic circle more, studying magic theories more comprehensively and maybe take a swing at spell invention to overtake you…" He gave her a challenging smile. The only reason she was ahead of him was because she'd had more time to get acquainted with her new magic—and probably because she was already making headway into creating her second branch.
"Ah, dreams." Minerva sighed dreamily, a challenging tone coloring her voice. "What a wonderful concept."
"You do know that you are in your current rank thanks to how useful my magical circle creation magic is, right?" He said, going with the flow of the conversation.
It was not that they actually cared much for ranks or who was more powerful—they were, and always would be, professors first. Yet he couldn't refute the fact that this competitive feeling the ranks created was something he enjoyed.
It gave them a sense of drive, a much-needed push toward progress, especially since they'd heard more than a couple of students arguing about which house was better and using their ranks as argument-winning points.
"Sure, and I thank you for that." Minerva answered with a serious nod. "Your magic will probably be used as a cornerstone for all new branches of magic created henceforth. But that doesn't change the fact that I am still a higher rank than you." She wiggled her eyebrow teasingly, prompting him to laugh.
"Yeah, yeah," he waved her off and continued. "Anyway, your new magic—the magical Animagus. How is your research into that going?"
"It's called Take-Over Magic, and it's going really well." She paused to sigh. "But it's still too dangerous and needs far more attention to detail. It deals with souls, mindscapes, magical rites, rituals, and a lot of tiny details that all need to come together as perfectly as possible before I go through another promotion."
"And we don't know the details of the next trial…" he added, getting a grim nod from her.
"It doesn't really matter, though…" He shifted the subject. "We can ask Albus about the topic later, but for now, tell me more about this Take-Over Magic of yours. Maybe I can shed some light onto some of it."
"Well, it's not like it's a secret. You have access to the whole research notes if you want to catch up on everything. Though I do appreciate having a fresh pair of eyes on the ritual diagrams. Something about the soul-binding sequence seems… off." She shrugged but continued her explanation nonetheless.
The core idea of the magic was making wizards and witches capable of gaining a magical Animagus form—like dragons or phoenixes. That, however, was not possible due to how utterly different these creatures were from humans. Humans use magic, but magical creatures embody it. They use it instinctively, like something as natural as breathing to them.
So she went about it in a different way. She took Albus's idea and started incorporating it into her research, which then turned it into its current form. A magic that helps wizards and witches refine a specific section of their mindscape and prepare it to house and lock a creature's soul, allowing the caster's body to adapt to the magic, form, and so on.
"A brilliant take. Although this would make it really hard for someone to gain more than one magical creature, as well as taking a long time to either tame said creature's soul or subjugate it," he commented, making her sigh and slump back in her seat. "And let's not forget that magical creatures are very dangerous, and most of the really powerful ones are protected by a number of ICW-enforced laws due to their low numbers…"
"I'll think about the legal implications of my magic after I succeed in forming a coherent theory…" She stopped speaking and turned her head toward the entrance, making him blink and look back at the arched doorway, only to find Poppy walking in.
'Is she keeping her magic sense open all the time?' He wondered before shaking his head. There was no point in doing that for him—he was in the process of learning mana-skin and needed far more control over his increased internal magic than his senses.
"Poppy, what a surprise. We usually have to drag you out of the medical wing for gatherings."
"Blame Albus for that." Poppy scowled. "He took away my job by turning the school into some sort of divine healing chamber…" She grumbled, but there was no real heat in her voice.
"Yeah, isn't that just great?" Minerva commented. "It makes physical training a lot easier when you know you won't be sore and unable to walk even if you exert yourself."
Poppy rolled her eyes at her. "What would I do with physical training?"
"I mean after you finish your own promotion ritual."
"That's going to be a hard task…" Poppy shook her head.
"Why? Is it because that Japanese witch did it first?"
"What? No!" Poppy denied it like the idea itself offended her. "That woman didn't create healing magic, no matter what she claims. Her magic has nothing to do with healing…"
She was about to go on a tirade when he raised his hand to get her attention. "Whoa there, Poppy. Slow down and explain, please."
Poppy looked at him, took a deep breath, and asked, "You read about her magic, right?"
They nodded. Of course they did. They made it a point to familiarize themselves with all new magics.
"Well, that woman went about healing from the opposite direction. She just pours in magic and makes it so there was never an injury to begin with. She doesn't treat the cause, which is why it's mostly ineffective for treating diseases…"
"So then what's the problem? That just means you have a wider area to explore, right?"
"That is the problem." Poppy said in frustration. "It's too wide an area to cover."
"Oh. Then just choose a field and commit to it."
"Easy for you to say… I have three research paths that are tied together, and I can't quite choose between them."
"So? Go with the easiest. Then you'll have more time to develop the rest. It's not that complicated," Minerva said, making Poppy deadpan at her.
He knew what Poppy's problem was. Choice paralysis. She wanted to do everything at once, but since she couldn't, she didn't quite know how to deal with it.
"Okay, Poppy, what was the general research direction?" He asked, hoping to offer some advice.
"Healing." She gave a flat answer in a grumbling tone, which only made him chuckle. "I want my healing magic to actually do what it says. Heal. Help the body overcome injuries, diseases, and ailments. But there are so many theories and ways to go about this. There's Muggle science, Albus's theories about how to use magic to help the body's natural responses and regeneration… so many different things."
"How about you start by making your magic do the opposite of what that woman, Tsunade, did? You know, regeneration and regrowth first, before you branch into other fields? It's not like you can only do the ritual once."
Poppy looked at him, then leaned back into her seat and gained a thoughtful frown.
That was good. That meant she was seriously thinking about it. Now to drive the point home. "You can even help Pomona with her research. She's going on a similar path, though designed for plants, of course…"
"Hmm." She hummed to herself, her fingers crossing together as she took a more comfortable posture. "That could work."
"Of course it would," he voiced encouragingly. "The only reason you were stuck is because you confused yourself with Albus's theories…"
"Oh, don't do that." Minerva finally looked back from her Archive, which she'd summoned to get more familiar with Poppy's current research trajectory, no doubt. "That's a one-way ticket to making your socks gain sentience…"
Both he and Poppy stopped whatever they were about to say or think and just turned their attention to her.
"What? Didn't I already tell you this story?"
"No, you did not."
"First time hearing this."
"Oh! Then you're in for a treat." Minerva beamed. "This happened a few years back when Albus lost a couple of socks. Though I think he was just too lazy to look for them or order a house elf to do it for him, so he got the brilliant idea to enchant them to always be in pair… Simple, right?"
They nodded. One only needed to learn how to weave enchantments into fabric, but he was sure Albus had dabbled in that too.
"Well, Albus decided that since he already had a couple of one-paired socks, why not experiment… And so he got it into his head that he could create a new branch of enchantments specifically designed for enchanting socks. He failed, as the only thing he tried was enchanting the socks but in a random order of steps instead of the usual order…" Minerva paused, chuckling slightly as she seemed to remember what happened.
"Long story short, he somehow made his socks gain a limited form of sentience for a limited time, but the chaos that brought into his bedroom and office was on another level…"
He chuckled as he imagined the scene. Yeah, he could see Albus doing something like that.
"Wait… why am I telling you when I can just send you the memory? It's funnier to look at than to hear…"
Filius shook his head as he willed his Archive screen to project itself into reality, in time for the notification to appear. He clicked on it, and a new screen appeared, taking him into their private group chat.
'Albus is in here too,' he thought and looked toward Minerva, only to find her smirking and typing something on the keyboard screen. She's using this to get him to message her, huh?
He shook his head at the antics of his friends. He knew Albus would find it funny and would have most definitely shared the memory himself if he were here, just so they could share a laugh.
'What a nice day.' He thought and clicked on the memory file.
---
[Alastor Moody]
Alastor found himself standing in the backyard of his home. A private and highly warded space where he usually trained to keep his edge sharp, though he was now training to keep his strength and magic under control…
The irony of the situation was not lost on him. He had made a gamble and won. He took half-finished theories—most of which were just pure nonsense, as he'd come to find out—and relied solely on his knowledge and experience to create a new branch of combat magic.
Mana-Skin. An application of conscious control over environmental wild magic that helps the practitioner envelop himself in a layer of magic, deflecting damage and shielding against almost all weak magical spells.
Mana-Zone. This one was a testament to high magical control, as it required the caster to link his magic to the wild magic of the environment, creating a radius where the caster's magic was far more effective, as well as sharpening focus and sensitivity…
The last one was just a way to temporarily raise one's strength by flooding their body with magic. Nothing groundbreaking, but it was effective.
These were methods he probably would never have dreamt of creating in the past. Plus, he was as high as one could be at that moment. After completing the Trial of Self—where he saw far too many flaws in his character and actions for his liking—he suddenly felt like he was on cloud nine.
His mind was so free. Magic felt like a lost limb he'd suddenly regained control of. Everything started to make so much sense.
Moody had never been one to drink much, or even use plant-based hallucinogens, despite how common it was for magicals to stumble upon them or even use them. But if he ever did, he couldn't imagine it ever topping that feeling.
Just remembering that state made something in his soul ache. He wanted more. That experience was enlightening, and he wanted to experience it again.
And the only way is to advance further, he reminded himself, nodding in determination.
'For magic.'
X_
A/N: last side story for now. I will be updating the next three chapters on Ko-Fi/ Moonpie99 first, so the next chapter will be posted on Thursday, if nothing out of the ordinary happens.
Thank you for your support….