75 Harry Potter : Chapter 74: New Addition III

Filius Flitwick was a wizard. An incredibly short kid with brown hair that was cut short enough to not require particular care, he had small but piercing brown eyes that shone with wisdom beyond anything one of his age should possess.

Because of his obvious goblin ancestry, declared to all sundry by his lightly pointed ears and sharper than normal canines, he hadn't needed to make his first step onto the train to realize that he'd be shunned for his blood.

He was prejudged and foredoomed from an early age because of his ancestral connection to a different breed of being that was both regarded and treated as second-class citizens by most of the wizarding community.

That wasn't anything he wasn't used to: he knew the stares and the pointed whispers, and he knew, that the ignorant would always fear what they could only see as different, instead of new. It was almost understandable in children, but that on itself was merely a reflection of the dismissal inherited by their parents.

Yes, in Filus' opinion, ignorance explained all too well the intense scrutiny he received, coupled with the half-whispered jokes about not letting him see any money, least he stole it from the hands of his peers.

He knew of his circumstances, but wise beyond his years, he had been rightfully sorted into Ravenclaw, and he could only hope that, with time, the House of Rowena would be the first to recognize him fully as one of their own, eventually followed by others.

He was rather thick-skinned in any case, insults and petty words were taken with a weight comparable to the importance of the opinion of strangers: that is to say, they were easily ignored.

Even in his enforced loneliness, despite a few tentative smiles and greetings from those that the wizarding culture hadn't managed yet to fully poison, he often found himself secluded in the Library: his keen mind eagerly consuming everything that caught his fancy.

From the clearly biased History texts that allowed him insight into the culture that so readily shunned him, to the odd legend born from even odder magical creatures, to what he instinctively understood as his true calling: Charms.

Truly, it was obvious how they were a pinnacle sustaining the entirety of wizardkind, it was blatant how much they were part of your day-to-day life, and there was something in their singular simplicity that could grow into overwhelming complexity that spoke to him at a level nothing else could.

Besides the more practical effects, such as reducing the time he needed to ready himself each morning, or simplifying his study routine once he managed to enchant a quill to properly write what he spoke, each of those spells held an elegance unmatched.

"Enjoying charms, are we?" a rumbling deep voice made Filius raise his head from the book he was submerged in in order to glance to the newcomer that he hadn't spotted the approach of.

He almost fell out of his chair as he barely managed to not squeak in fright: the Slytherin student, as he had an undone silver and green tie hanging over his neck, was massive in a way that the term 'massive' didn't manage to cover.

Standing easy at more than three meters of height, with unruly short hair and a rather large build that matched perfectly his height, the wizard was regarding him with a wide smile on his face, and dark eyes that were far too eager for his approach to not be something he had planned in advance.

Steeling himself for what was likely going to be the first instance of a more physical kind of bully since his arrival at Hogwarts, Filius was shocked in a wholly different manner when the giant in all but name turned his attention to the book the Ravenclaw student had been perusing.

"Ah, I tried that one: Farsee is competent for sure, but he isn't the most flexible of thinkers, and this particular author wouldn't recognize an original thought if it bit him in the arse."

The diminutive wizard found himself sniffing with some sort of outrage: he could deal with insult to himself just fine, but a wholly different thing was to label a book for him before he had finished reading it! Nevermind the barely held back disdain for Professor Farsee.

"I don't believe I know you." Filius spoke with his squeaky voice, but his stern expression only managed to amuse the older wizard.

"Odd, isn't it? That the smallest wizard wouldn't have taken notice of the one that is almost three meters and half tall." the smile on the stranger's face widened with what could only be described as pride.

"Maybe I should have waited a bit more to approach you, a month is hardly enough time for a first-year to appreciate the nuances of a subject, even if it is his favorite one."

Filus narrowed his keen gaze upon the too-tall Slytherin, and he was truly shocked that, in fact, he couldn't recall spotting him in the Great Hall, where he'd have towered upon all of his housemates: "And how would you know about which subject is my favorite, oh Slytherin-Stranger?"

The newcomer casually enlarged a chair and sat beside the diminutive wizard while he let out a low chuckle. "Oh, where did I hear this before?"

"Rubeus Hagrid." Filius found himself shaking the otherwordly massive hand of the imposing stranger while he kept talking: "It's been some years since I last saw someone with eyes like yours."

"I'm Filius Flitwick." he found himself answering while he started to think that maybe the student wasn't there to bully the little Ravenclaw, "What do you mean by eyes like mine? And yes, how come I didn't notice you before?"

A bounded stack of parchment was quietly placed over the book the first-year had been studying, and a quick glance revealed the handmade notes to have a nasty script on the first page that proudly declared: 'Shadows and Secrets', by Rubeus Hagrid.

"I'm not going to publish this, but I think it's a better starting point to properly manage variations of the Notice-Me-Not." the deep voice of the older student spoke with an amused tilt: "And by eyes like yours, of course, I meant eyes like mine, even if I think you're a little too prone to follow the rules."

"I don't follow." Filius found himself answering while his hands were already opening the small stack of well-organized notes: immediately he noticed that while sparse, the script was dense with meaning, and he hadn't even reached half of the second paragraph when he caught an obscure reference to 'the three Pillars of existence'.

"Why are you giving me this?"

"Well, during my first month, I hopped a couple of times in the Restricted Section."

Hagrid grinned mischievously, and that I'd offer you both the key to the knowledge of how I manage to move without being pointed at and annoyed by the majority of the school's populace.

When it could technically be also used to sneak a peek, so to speak, is entirely a coincidence."

Filius found himself pursing his lips while he focused on the sequence of events like they were pieces of a puzzle, and still holding onto the 'gift' from Rubeus, he found himself asking what in hindsight was obvious: "Is this some sort of test from Slytherin House?"

The too-big student snorted loudly as an answer: "Morgana's tits, no, of course not: most of my House is exactly like all others." and after a beat, Hagrid grinned crookedly.

"They're average, almost painfully so, I'd never considered inviting them."

"Inviting them to... what?" the squeaky voice of Filius asked once more while he placed the 'gift' he had just received on the wooden surface where he had been peacefully studying before that too-big student decided to interrupt him.

Rubeus merely tapped the side of his nose: "That'd be telling: for now, simply take this in the spirit in which it was given. Knowledge, for a seeker of knowledge."

The Ravenclaw student found himself glancing towards the bound stack of notes once more, his eyes scanning ahead while he started to make himself an idea of what exactly he was dealing with: "I won't use this to sneak into the Restricted Section only for you to have a laugh."

"We are all entitled to our choices." Hagrid nodded agreeably, "But it's odd, isn't it? A place of learning where some learning is forbidden?"

"Those books are 'restricted', not forbidden."

"Only because nobody knows what you might actually find in there." the too-tall student simply rose a challenging eyebrow, "But I have one last thing to say before I go: change is neither good, nor bad, but knowledge is always useful. You won't become a raging monster only because you learn how to be one."

The too-tall wizard rose from his seat and returned it to its original size with a neglectful tap of his wand: "Would you be willing to answer a question."

With wit striking suddenly, Filius found himself answering: "It seems I just did."

Surprisingly, instead of showing annoyance Rubeus simply nodded approvingly, and then asked: "Why do you enjoy charms?"

Somewhat surprised by the question, the Ravenclaw found himself answering: "They are, at their core, the direct exercise of will upon reality." and at the unimpressed expression on the older wizard's face, Filius rolled his eyes while he crossed his arms despondently.

"Oh, sure, any piece of magic could be defined like that, but Charms are direct in their effects. While the mentality needed for them is a bit more complex, their purpose is perfectly matched to what what you need from them in each situation."

"Proven you're knowledgeable enough." the too-tall Slytherin replied with another nod as he began to walk away, his long legs quickly bringing him away from the much smaller student.

Left alone, Filius found himself eyeing again the bounded stack of notes, and felt the beginning of a faint headache thrum at the base of his skull. Why was it that the more he looked at that dark ink, the more he thought that the 'gift' was a fisher's hook?

...

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