84 Flitwick is Back

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'Something's off.'

As soon as Magnus entered the study, he could feel that something abnormal was happening. It was nothing concrete, more like a collection of hunches and small details that compounded into one massive enigma for him to unravel.

The gubraithian fires burned still, yet the room was not as warm or bright as it once had been. The many bookcases that once sparked curiosity in the most simple minded of students, now felt like oppressive walls weighing down on the Charms professor.

"Oh, Magnus." The small teacher smiled under his beard, though his eyes kept going to his seemingly endless paperwork.

"Busy with schoolwork?" The boy said, looking at some of the parchments and the letters.

He noted the lack of Hogwarts crests, or anything related to school business.

"No, just a personal project." He said, looking at him when he said the word 'personal', with flick of his wand each paper levitated into a well-organized pile, away from Magnus and his uninvited curiosity.

This was very much out of character.

The teacher popped his shoulders, wincing all the while. Only then did Magnus get a real look at his head of house.

'He looks like crap.'

Oddly enough, that was a very good description of the older goblin-born wizard.

His clothes were worn out, as if he slept in them for days in a row. There were bags under his eyes, which Magnus knew to be much rarer among those with goblin blood, hinting at the teacher abusing his mind and body beyond what his enhanced physique could handle.

Much more shocking was Flitwick's beard, his greatest pride if the champion duelist's skills were removed from the equation.

Magnus was used to seeing it carefully trimmed, kept in optimal form according to the small teacher's admittedly peculiar tastes.

There was surely more details to be found, but he had gleaned more than enough already.

'It's none of my business though.' The more respectful part of his brain tried to stir him away from a potentially troublesome issue, he had enough of those already.

'But what if it was my business?' The paranoid part supplied him with the most dangerous thing known to man…a question, one he couldn't answer without engaging the enemy.

That's what it is, an enemy. Every untruth, mystery, clue he did not study. Each unknown variable was a monster hiding out there, ready to strike him down if he failed to pacify it.

"Did you need something, I am more than a little busy right now…" Flitwick said, trying to get rid of his overly curious student.

The professor was bright enough to recognize a nosy bastard when he saw it, and to him Magnus must've looked like the evil version of the most cunning gender-bent Hermione Granger from an alternate universe….only much more handsome, obviously.

"It won't take much time." Magnus said matter-of-factly, outright refusing the polite request to fuck-off from his dear teacher. "I need some advice with my animations."

Flitwick almost perked up at words 'advice' and 'animations', but soon deflated.

Whatever it was that plagued the old Ravenclaw's mind must be dreadful. For him who relished in sharing guidance, especially in his favored field of charmwork, to act so similarly to one Severus Snape…

'You had my curiosity, now you have my attention.' He thought, even though not a soul would know of his references in years.

Or ever, if he managed to triumph over the muggle world.

"Your animations are perfect, for someone so focused with the technical aspects of the art." He dismissed him with a subtle jab at his personal style of casting, coating it with flattery to remove the sting.

"I'd take reliable results over the philosophical psycho-babble of esoteric magic any day of the week, thank you very much." He couldn't help but roll his eyes, "But I wouldn't mind hearing some advice from the other team, might learn something useful. "

Hook, line and sinker.

You could be the most stoic, depressed, tired wretch in the entire world. All it takes is some genuine interest in your beliefs and passions, especially from someone who does not agree with them, and you'll start singing like a little bird.

In this case, Magnus who was staunch supporter of the controlled fields of magic; which favored the actual understanding and quantifying of the mechanics behind spells and the magic that fueled them, as opposed to the esoteric wizards who'd rather trust the powers that be to somehow achieve results, group from which Flitwick adheres.

When the opposition's self-proclaimed brightest young wizard was taking an interest in his school of casting, the half-goblin could do nothing but give in to the temptation and try to sway him to his side.

'Not that it would ever happen,' Magnus put his foot down, 'I'll take some insights to complete my Death Beam nullification project, nothing more.'

"I'm glad to hear that." Flitwick smiled, but it was crooked and tired.

It was a sad thing, but the small glimmer in his eyes told Magnus that he would soon receive a thorough explanation on the superiority of esoteric casting in the making of animations; an absurdly vast subject he did not want to discuss at the time.

Before he could clarify, the charm master had already begun his familiar tirade.

It was like hearing a clergyman arguing about the validity of his evangil, when all you wanted to know was whether or not he did touch that little boy.

"Is this a common view amongst the goblin nation?" Magnus asked, in the same tone he used to ask questions in the classroom.

Naturally, Flitwick answered.

"Actually, those of my heritage are much more removed from the debates of the wizarding world, there is no technical or esoteric casting to be found amongst goblinkins." He said, "The magicks we use are rituals, very inefficient in actuality, but there's nothing to be done for now."

Magnus did a double take, thankful for the Occlumency masking his true feelings while he kept a neutral face.

'Did he just say for now?'

It was an innocent sentence, most people would've missed it with how long and admittedly boring their discussion has been, but Magnus was not most people.

"I thought they would be much more attuned to esoteric spells, since they chose not to partake in the magical revolution brought by wands and other foci." he continued, choosing his words carefully.

"Ha." The half-goblin smiled, but there was no humanity in it, only sharp teeth and bitterness and all the doubts Magnus had seen plastered on his weary face. "There was no choice, never has been."

Magnus stayed silent, letting him vent while paying attention to his every word.

"The right to bear a wand has been fiercely guarded by wizards, always has been. Even 'mixed breeds' like me and Hagrid are barely eligible for holding one, the slightest mistake could see it stripped away too…poor Hagrid." He shook his head.

Magnus could sympathize with the kind giant, losing his wand after spending so much time in the magical world was something he couldn't possibly imagine.

"That's why so many rebellions were started, though the hatred perpetuated by both sides certainly doesn't help." He muttered something in Goblin tongue, no Magnus refused to call it Gobbledygook, that was ridiculous. "Professor Binns and his history lessons are a good example."

"I wouldn't know, I stopped going after two weeks." He said honestly, earning a chuckle from the fired up wizard. "But I can certainly imagine the consequences of such teachings."

"Yes, even in times of peace the relations between goblins and wizards can be tense, today's unrest only makes it more intense…" Flitwick stopped himself, looking every bit like a man who said more than he should have.

They stayed silent for a few moments. One of them realized he had most likely been played by a child thirty years his junior, his very own student at that, while the other contemplated the meaning behind his teacher's slip up.

Both knew exactly what had transpired, and they knew the best course of action would be forgetting it happened.

"Thank you for the advice, though I didn't require so much insight in the esoteric ways." Magnus broke the silence, as if nothing had happened.

The Charms teacher took the olive branch.

"Nonsense, you are too young to pick a side in a feud between world-weary old wizards and their magical traditions." Flitwick smiled once more, though it was even less warm than his previous.

"I'm afraid it's impossible." Magnus denied, "Picking a side is inevitable, the world isn't so kind as to allow such greed without a price."

The older man's smile was frozen, his brows twitching unconsciously.

"Neutrality isn't greed, Magnus." He said, his voice full of conviction.

"When an entire world is waiting for you to decide, it is." The boy shrugged "Esoteric, Technique, or even flipping everyone the bird like the headmaster did."

"Magnus!"

"What? It's true, Dumbledore mixed everything, added some lemon drops and somehow made it work." He said, "The point is, he picked a side, even if he made his own."

…

None of them moved, but Magnus was already feeling too tired to continue this nonsense. He had all the intelligence he wanted and then some, though he wasn't as discrete as he hoped, in the end it didn't even matter.

"I need to find a way to incorporate a form of semi-intelligence to my animations, something more reliable than the usual rules and reactions I usually put." He made his case, and hoped for the best.

"Animations with autonomy…it's awfully similar to homunculi, Magnus." Fltiwick said right away, though the boy knew he'd react that way.

Homunculi, an umbrella term that initially attributed to artificial human beings whose creation is strictly prohibited, but now encompassed the magical creation of all sentient, sapient objects or creatures; everything from a basilisk to the sorting hat could be considered a homunculus, or an animunculi in the later case.

It was not exactly illegal, not in every case. Nor was it fully immoral, for obvious reasons. But the knowledge to create such things safely has largely been lost to time and the greed of a few knowledge-hungry wizards who lacked the talent to do so anyway.

Nowadays such magic was mostly guesswork, best left to the unspeakables and other experts to try and figure out.

What it certainly was, however, was extremely dangerous for the underprepared wizard.

'Basically, the wizarding world's equivalent to Artificial intelligence.' Was his opinion on the matter.

It could go really wrong, really quick.

"Nothing that developed, professor." He had to stop himself from rolling his eyes, he wasn't that unreasonable. "I was thinking about something with a single purpose, and very limited possible actions."

Less like Skynet, and more like chat gpt.

"I need more details, Magnus."

He winced.

His head of house had the right to study all pet projects he started in Hogwarts, and usually had to approve it for him to continue.

"I would rather keep it private, professor, it has to do with some family magics." The last two words were enough to send any academic inquiry back home with a sore arse, another luxury muggleborns did not have.

"I see, but the rules are the rules." The diminutive teacher said, and Magnus could already feel the dismissal coming.

He had to do something about it, the older wizard didn't deny being able to help him with this task.

"You'd know something about that, wouldn't you." He said, and the older man knew what he was talking about.

It was something of a low blow, but Magnus has never been gentle, not when a major success was being denied to him.

Flitwick did not bother following the rules when the headmaster asked to see his twelve years old student alone, with neither his head of house nor any magical tutor present.

Now he was using the rules almighty to deny him, the irony was not lost on him.

"Magnus, look…*sigh*, I wouldn't be able to help much anyways, I'd rather you'd bring it up to the headmaster." He scribbled a note on some nearby parchment, extending it to him once he signed.

A referral to the headmaster was not what he hoped for, but it would have to do.

Something inside him was revolted at the thought of approaching that old goat for advice, especially when it involved a project as sensible as this one.

Perhaps he should continue working alone? He already advanced much by himself, continuing would cost him way more time but the results would be the same…hopefully.

'The real question is, do I have the time to deal with it myself? Can I delay it for months, possibly years?'

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Hey guys! It's Uncle Sheo!

The chapter was plot heavy, magic heavy, and light on fluff.

Sorry for delay, you may expect an update every two days from now on (At least in my other platforms, which happen to also be 12 chapters ahead and completely free...just saying.)

Hoped you liked the chapter, tune in next time for another chapter of HP: Eagle Soars.

Peace and Cheese!