Chapter 3

Thomas sighed when he watched Harry go through the floo to his new tutor, he would stay there for two years, only coming back on the weekends. Sure it would leave more time for him and his wife to do whatever they needed or wanted, but it left a feeling that his house was empty.

He didn't have the time to brood on it though as he still had to prepare for his hearing and while he could convince the board to force the Ritual magic to be taught once more at Hogwarts, managing to convince them to make it a core subject is another thing entirely and while he would be quite satisfied to make it an elective, Rituals still are an integral part of a wizard's life.

He decided to go to his shed, more like his workshop honestly, to make enough staves for every student he may have if he only manage to make it an elective, after all wands won't ever be enough to do even the most basic of Rituals unless one has perfect control over his emotions. Which meant that he needed around three hundred staves.

First he selected chestnut wood, as it was the most neutral of all woods for making focus, anyone could use it without issues as the magical wood would not really care about the user, now the question was what alchemic component to use as core, because no part of a magical creature could allow its user to be anyone.

Thomas decided to use a sunheart, a crystal that absorbed the magic laced in the sun rays to store it. Simply put, it was a magical crystal that was a miniature magical sun. It was easy to make, despite the price of its component being absurdly high, thankfully he was a producer of said components and thus the price was not that high to make enough heart to complete his staves.

He then began working on the staff itself, to make a pattern that his machine would follow, first he made the shape itself, not overly complicated as a simple straight quarterstaff for the size of a teenager was enough, if they wanted a more elaborate model he had those at his shop… for a premium of course. Then he engraved runed in and on the staff, so that it could fulfill its purpose. Finally he liquefied the crystal and forced it softly to permeate the staff, which filled the runes and made them visually disappear.

Thomas let his magic flow through the staff to test its efficiency so that he was sure there was no way that the children could put their failure on potentially faulty equipment. He then smiled, satisfied with his work before putting it on the pedestal that would allow the enchantment of the machines to imitate the work down to its most minute details.

"You gotta love magic. One just needs to have a good head on his shoulder and you can make whatever your imagination allows you." was what he said when he was twenty and made his first automated thaumic crafter. Of course said crafter blew up a month after, because nothing you make will work on the first try.

He then let the machine do its magic while he went back to the main room of his shed. Thomas checked the time on his pocket watch and saw that he still had an hour before dinner so he went to another door which had the word 'Workshop' above it. He wanted, more like needed, to make another pendant. If he was to face Dumbledore, then he would have to protect his mind, while the man was a genius of cunning and manipulation, he wasn't as subtle as he believed he was with his Legilimency.

A pendant, or mind focus, is not the same as most foci that meld a magical creature's part with either a metal or a wood. A pendant is made of an enchanted gem set on a runed lavalier styled pendant. This is where his sound crystals shined as it massively expanded on the potential of such foci, which is why he may become the recipient of an order of Merlin, not like he really cared.

He decided to use a wampus cat's roar, the roar of a wampus cat is able to disrupt a Legilimency attempt when heard and as such when used in the creation of a pendant it help the creation of disruptive Occlumency shields, which are the most efficient to defend your mind as you don't need to protect your mind when your opponent can't read it in the first place.

The metal Thomas used for the necklace and the pendant itself was alchemical silver, which is an amalgam of mercury and silver that was enchanted during the process, he then put rune on the pendant to amplify the effect of the crystal and put rune on the necklace to ease the flow of magic between the pendant and the bearer. He knew that this jewel would protect him perfectly… well until Dumbledore finds the way through that one.

Thomas always hated that part about the Headmaster of Hogwarts, his mind was too sharp and the tools that the Thaumaturge made always had a limited use against the second coming of Merlin. Sure having such a talented wizard on the Britannic side was reassuring, but his policies that are so similar to Gellert Grindelwald's ideology was quite alarming.

Sure he was subtle with it and the clear lack of education of the newer generations are greatly helping him in his endeavor, especially since he is in control of the education of young wizards, but it was clear as day for anyone taking the time to link the decisions and whomever paid attention to the big picture. Granted that limited greatly the number of individuals that saw through him, but there were still enough of them that Dumbledore still had to fight a lot for any and all laws that he wanted to put in place.

Thomas then went back to his house after adding the finishing touches to his pendant. It was late and he could already smell the dinner that his wife was making, he was glad to have used his divination to guide him through his life, sure it lacked the elegance of hermetic magic but it was still one art that was quite useful, scrying saved his life more than once and it also allowed him to meet the best woman that would accept him.

Once the dinner was eaten, he got to bed with his wife to enjoy their newfound tranquility. Sure there were spells to stop sound but they find it more exciting to not block the sound as the simple thought of being found out was quite the exciting idea. The forbidden is always more exciting after all.

The next day Thomas went to his office to make sure everything was running smoothly and began writing the arguments that he would use during the hearing. He knew his thoughts were safe, now was time to cover every single base and make sure no point that could be raised by Dumbledore would be left standing.

He made plans from A all the way to Z, no stone was left unturned, no point was left without an answer. The only way for Dumbledore to prevent him from getting the job would be by pretending that he was too young or lacked the experience, except it was no secret that his Ritual was done and confirmed and he had to pass the Mastery just so that the Ministry allow him to make and do his Ritual.

Elyse then knocked at his door, he let her enter and she looked like she had something to say but didn't know how to say it.

"Elyse, dear, don't hesitate to go straight to the point, you know that if I ever get mad then you won't ever be the target."

"Well… Amelia is here… with three Aurors."

Thomas frowned "Did she say why she had to be here with enough people to arrest someone ?"

"Well… they said that it was to check the presence of Tainted Artifacts."

"Amelia should know better than to knock here for that, I don't deal with those, it makes the thaumic tinkering unstable. Well, no matter, I'll see her."

Thomas went to the front door and opened it to the member of the Ministry, he looked at Amelia while showing that he was disappointed. One of the three Aurors was a cadet so the other should be the mentor so there were three because one was babysitting a newbie and thus they needed another.

"Lady Black, what can I do for the Ministry on this fine…" Thomas looked at his pocket watch before resuming "Evening."

"Preacher, spare us your sass. Someone denounced you as a major Dark Arts user, so move out of the way so that we can check your house for evidence." Said one Auror.

"First warning Auror. You either simmer down or I'll make you understand why your boss told you to be diplomatic." Said Thomas with a flat tone.

"Thomas, Fudge pushed the Wizengamot to ask for the search of your workshop. He believes that it's not in line with the law." Said Amelia.

"Let me be clear, Amelia. The director of the department of magical accidents and catastrophe asked for preemptive actions to remove a perceived danger ?"

"Essentially."

"You already know my answer don't you ?"

"No evidence means no access to your shed, yes the Ministry is aware as the law protects you from unwarranted search."

"So, I do hope for your investigation that you found evidence before coming here."

"Will you shut up and move Preach-" the same Auror began to say before suddenly being hit by a silencing charm.

Thomas indicated his ring before saying "Auror, I don't know your name nor do I care about it. You are to present both your arms nude right this instant unless you want me to force you to do it."

Everyone except Amelia paled at the sudden reaction of Thomas, She sighed before speaking to the auror.

"Tickwrath, show your arms so that Thomas Preacher stop rightfully suspecting you as a Death Eater."

The Auror name Tickwrath finally got a hold on himself before obeying, which showed that he was clean as no tattoo was found.

"Good, now that this is out of the way, I'll ask you Amelia to please tell me you have evidence that my shed represents a risk of catastrophe."

"There are none, however this is an -"

"Fine, only you are allowed in the shed Amelia and you are to sign a magical contract that prevents you from revealing in any way whatever you'll see inside that does not represent a risk. Law enforcement or not, there are limits that should not be crossed."

Amelia once again sighed, she accepted the contract as it would be pointless to argue on it, Thomas was an innovative wizard, a powerful one and worst of all he was one that would have no qualm with simply leaving the country to go see if the grass was greener elsewhere, which it very well may be in his case.

She went in the shed with his wife while he kept the three Aurors waiting at the door, it took ten minutes before Amelia came back while muttering that she would kill Fudge politically as the reasons why he asked and greased the paw of many member of the wizengamot was now as clear as day : he wanted to steal the secrets of Thomas. They apparated away and Thomas was now deeply disappointed in Fudge.