(Arcane Tinker) Chapter 19: Perplexing Chronicles

AN: Like the other AT chapters so far, this isn’t part of the weekly schedule. Tomorrow will be an AWM (EM Vol. 2) chapter, like you guys chose in the last poll.

Chapter 19: Perplexing Chronicles

7th September 1991, Hogwarts

He had known that being known as an enchanter would have made things difficult, but he didn’t know exactly how much of a hassle things could get. First, he would need to verify Flitwick’s claims and also what remained unsaid during their conversation. This meant that he needed to go to the library as soon as possible.

Dean got up from his bed earlier than most of the other students. It was the weekend, so they weren’t missing anything in particular, but he had gotten used to waking up early for years, something that his mother had drilled into him. He used to dislike it, but now, he kept up the habit if only to remember her. He looked up and saw the small painting he held of his mother, seeing her smile gently at him. It wasn’t exactly as sophisticated or as complex as the paintings all over the castle, which could talk and chat away, which he had no idea how they were made, but that small, almost imperceptible smile always made him feel more alive than them.

It was hard to put into words, truly, but the magic simply felt more real, although that might be a biased thought on his part. The reduction charm had also stuck into it, and Dean instinctively knew that it wasn’t fading away, not like the rest of the charms he had cast. It was odd, and he was curious about how it worked, but he decided not to mess around with it. He would not risk damaging it.

Nevertheless, as painful as it sometimes was, he still loved seeing his mother’s smile as the first thing whenever he woke up, like a memory of her telling him to have a good day, like she had every morning. He gave the painting a small smile before getting ready. After all, it was finally the weekend, everyone else was asleep, and he had some time to himself.

The first week at Hogwarts had passed without too many problems. Classes were somewhat interesting, but things had quickly turned surprisingly mundane given where they truly were in a magical school.

In terms of classes, they still didn’t get their Magical Theory classes with Professor Rowle, but they did have a class with her, though it was History of Magic instead. Well, it wasn’t really about history, mostly some basic teaching about how the magical world worked, as in different departments in ministry, who to contact when you were in trouble, rules about magical usage in public, and a general introduction about the magical governments in Europe, different magical species, and so on.

It felt like a class geared towards Muggleborns, only Dean slowly realised that most other students were sort of clueless about many things, and this class seemed to address most of these gaps in their knowledge. To be fair, unless someone had family in the Wizengamot, it was pretty unlikely that first-years would know how drafting laws would work.

She was a good teacher, all things considered, and her topic was interesting for a newcomer to the magical world. But she seemed to ignore Dean’s presence, and he didn’t exactly care, as he never tried to participate in class. However, making him sit back was odd, but then again, he was rumoured to be an unstable pyromancer, so that was likely instinctive. Dean didn’t particularly care as long as she didn’t fail him, which is something he would see later. Still, this class was a bit of a breeze compared to the others, which actually made their schedule quite packed.

Transfiguration continued to be extremely complicated, but practical lessons seemed to be quite easy. They hadn’t transfigured anything yet, but worked on dispelling transfigurations, much like they did in charms. Dean found it quite easy, as it used the same spell as the one they learned in charms, followed by a spell that taught them to detect transfigured objects. It was quite easy, as he had the same advantage as he had in Charms, as an Enchanter, and could tell that something wasn’t authentic in an object and how to very easily target whatever anchored that instability in being.

Once more, the actual magic didn’t seem as complex as the theory involving each spell. Following the incantation and the wand movement was often enough to cast that particular spell, but apparently, casting variations of the same spell with the same incantation was possible if one understood the formula… somehow… Dean still had no idea how all of this worked, just that it was part of the ‘Merlinean Magical System’, and that it did. Any attempt to look more into it in the library ended with a headache as he only found it in old handwritten books, with more arithmetic formulas than actual words. To be completely fair, the Library was an insane maze of books seemingly separated into similar sections. Finding books on a specific topic was almost impossible unless you knew exactly which books you were looking for. He’d need to revisit it later as he hadn’t had the time to explore things as much as he wished.

Potions class, on the other hand, was quite fun with Professor Slughorn. The professor explained that every ingredient had certain properties that they had to learn with every potion they made. They started with a basic potion, which only had three ingredients: daisy roots, doxy eggs, and ginger. It didn’t exactly have any effects, but it was harmless, as the colour changed to white and it released a soft pink vapour when it was done correctly.

The practical portion showed a few people making errors, with the potion turning red or blue, but not explosions. Dean had to admit that the man knew what he was doing with his lessons, as each student learned the skills needed to brew basic potions while able to try multiple times.

Herbology was interesting, in the same vein as magical plants were interesting. However, magical plants quickly lost their lustre when he realised that most of the first term would be casting certain charms on completely mundane plants, not to damage any of the magical ones. Dean quickly learned that it was a wise precaution to have when Seamus blew up his own potted plant.

Astronomy was, by far, the dullest class they had, where they essentially learned how to use a telescope and were asked to research certain constellations. It definitely wasn’t worth being up in the middle of the night, even if the sky was certainly beautiful.

Last but certainly not least was Defence Against the Dark Arts. For one, Quirrell seemed to be a confident professor, without any stuttering. He seemed to know what he was doing and was a good teacher, but he didn’t seem enthusiastic about it. It was hard to explain, but most other teachers, even Professor Rowle, seemed to light up when they taught their subject, but not him. His classes were good, though, despite that small hiccup. The theory portions were mostly being taught about magical creatures, while the practical portion was the most fun, where they learned how to cast stinging hexes and how to aim them at targets. He had even enchanted them to move,

Dean wished he could have more time to himself for personal research, but the workload was immense. They had essays to do for almost every class, which required work after their already full schedules. By the end of the day, they were too exhausted to even talk. He had no idea how people could do any extra-curricular activities without failing at least one class. It was a good tactic to make students too tired to make any trouble, doubly so for magical students, but it was just too much.

His fellow first-years seemed to suffer as well. Harry and Sally-Anne looked half-asleep after their classes, and Lisa had complained loudly during their joint classes with Padma agreeing with her. There were still no signs of Jack, but in complete honesty, Dean hadn’t really been looking, given how tired he, himself, was.

As for the Gryffindor common rooms, things had calmed down as schoolwork resumed. In their year, Neville, Seamus, and Ron were all but joined at the hip, while he and Harry stayed behind, wanting nothing to do with their spats with Malfoy. Dean had no idea what the girls did in their dormitory, but they all seemed to get along well enough, at least enough that Sally-Anne wasn’t left out.

All in all, things had settled, and Dean wanted a bit of a breather before having to write even more essays. And so, alone for what it felt like the first time in a week, he walked down from the common room and stared at the lake from one of the windows.

It was an oddly beautiful day for it being Autumn in Scotland. It was sunny, the Black Lake glimmered in the distance, and the trees in the forbidden forest were in the distance. He took a deep breath and felt at peace.

Of course, that was when he heard a cough behind him. He jumped back, holding his wand, not that he knew to cast anything, and froze as he saw the severe face of Professor McGonagall staring at him, although he could almost see her lips twitching at his reaction, “Good morning, Professor.”

“Good morning to you as well, Mr. Thomas. Might I ask what you are doing so early in the morning?”

Dean put away his wand and grabbed the back of his head in embarrassment, “I wanted a bit of quiet. The common room gets a bit much.”

“I suppose I can understand that. Ever since the Weasley Twins were sorted into Gryffindor, it’s been a miracle any Gryffindor has managed a moment’s peace,” she said dryly, her eyes narrowing fondly. “Though I suppose you wouldn’t know that yet. Consider yourself warned.”

Dean gave a polite chuckle, trying not to look too uncomfortable under her sharp gaze, and found himself a bit intimidated to ask her why she wanted to speak with him. Thankfully, she beat him to the punch, “Speaking of which, I was on my way to send your classmates’ registration appointments, which should take place later today. But given that you seem free and I am currently available, why don’t we get to it now? You are free, correct?”

The boy froze for a fraction of a second before nodding slowly, “Yes, Professor.”

“Excellent. Meet me in my office in ten minutes. I should have come back from the owlery by then,” she said, already turning around and leaving Dean alone, feeling somewhat panicked.

For one, he couldn’t help but wonder how she’d go to the owlery and return back to her office in just ten minutes. It was likely some sort of secret passage or something like that. And so, given his unfamiliarity, he decided to get a move on and thought about his upcoming meeting.

The topic of registration weighed heavily in his mind ever since the meeting with Flitwick. The half-goblin had almost terrified him of what awaited him if it came out that he was an enchanter, and an unprotected one at that. He couldn’t lie on the registration; he knew that, since Flitwick knew, and it was illegal, but he would always dread a member of the Board of Governors reading the registration information and spreading Dean’s personal magic around.

There was also the protection that being a Pyromancer gave him, which would disappear with the revelation of his new magic, especially given the fact that he couldn’t control it yet, not really. The truth was that he was the least protected student in the castle, with the only thing helping him being an enchanted ring. If that came out, people would counter him easily enough. He had seen a lot of upper years eyeing him, and he didn’t want to know what they had planned, especially if they realised how vulnerable he truly was.

By the time he arrived at McGonagall’s office, he had gone through hundreds of scenarios about what could happen. He knocked once and stepped inside after her voice called him in. The office was neat, angular, and a little too quiet, decorated with tartan patterns, bookshelves, and a few stern-looking portraits that didn’t greet him. Professor McGonagall sat behind her desk, glasses perched on her nose, a small stack of parchment at her side. She gestured toward the chair opposite her.

“Sit, Mr. Thomas.”

He did, doing his best not to look like he was bracing for a hex. She glanced up at him, eyebrows twitching ever so slightly at his posture, then reached into a drawer and placed a tin between them.

“Biscuit?” she asked, her voice far gentler than he’d expected.

Dean blinked, then nodded. “Thank you,” he said, picking one and taking a careful bite. It was a lot nicer than he thought it would be.

She gave a small nod and sat straighter. “Now then, before we begin… How have you settled into Hogwarts so far?”

He chewed and swallowed before answering. “It’s… nice, actually. The lessons are interesting, for the most part. A bit overwhelming, but I’m getting used to it.”

“Good,” she said, her tone clipped but approving. “Now, I have a few standard questions for the registration process. You are currently a resident at Willowbrook Orphanage, correct?”

She made a few notes on her parchment. Then, without looking up, she added, “Now, onto your magic… Professor Flitwick mentioned there may be more to your magic than just pyromancy, contrary to a few rumours.”

Dean stiffened in his seat, biscuit forgotten in his hand. Oh, he didn’t even think that McGonagall listened to the rumour mill. Given the way she was certain of it, a few students likely complained about the presence of a muggleborn who could control fire without a wand.

A part of him hated the fact that Flitwick had obviously said something to McGonagall, but it was obviously not everything. A part of him was actually appreciative, taking that step forward and making the decision to tell McGonagall was harder, and now that he didn’t really have a choice without it being extremely obvious that he lied, the path forward was a bit easier. He could only trust that McGonagall would help him, much like Flitwick promised that she would.

“I… yes,” he said quietly, then exhaled. “I’m not a pyromancer. That was just an enchanted ring. I’m an enchanter.”

At that, McGonagall’s quill stopped mid-word. Her eyes lifted to meet his, sharp and wide. “Explain. Now.”

AN: Like I said above, this isn’t part of the weekly schedule. Tomorrow will be an AWM (EM Vol. 2) chapter, like you guys chose in the last poll.

As for this chapter, I know that it’s not eventful, but I decided to combine most of the class in the first week into a single chapter to pick things up a bit. I think I made enough exposition about the world, so I can advance the plot more easily now. As usual, I don’t mind rewriting this depending on your feedback, so please let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions.