The third week of the first month. We were closing into the same amount of time I had spent at the Weasley farm. A few months from my original resting place, the tomb I had assumed would be the rest of my life. It couldn't be more different.
"Y-You s-see the Forbidden Forest, i-is well, just full of-of all manner of things. Magical creatures abound, m-most impressive, I do s-say!" Professor Quirrell awkwardly gestured with his hands, almost knocking his turban off his head again.
"You've been in there, Professor?" A student asked as he adjusted the wrapped cloth.
"C-Course. It's a d-duty of an a-academic, j-just a treasure trove of s-specimens."
"That's surprising." Another student piped up.
"W-Why's th-th-that?" The stutter became even more pronounced as he warily looked between the students who muttered amongst themselves. His gaze like that of a gazelle in the midst of a pride of lions. Which was ironic.
"Well, I mean. You're just a little bit of a coward. No offense, teach." A young man with his hair collected in a ponytail casually remarked from the middle of the class.
"P-Pre-Preposterous! I-I'll have you know, b-b-bravery is my mi-middle name! I w-was once called He-Who-Shall-Never-Be-Named! F-Fearsome, ri-right!?" Majority of the class erupted in mild elation. It was a much more refined and casual mocking than those of Gryffindor and Slytherin. The reason was obvious. It was only Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw students in attendance and their students seemed to be more… mild mannered so to speak. It was a bit disheartening that Sakayanagi wasn't present… for her I mean. Probably.
"Professor, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I don't think whoever called you that was afraid of you…"
"W-Why else w-would they liken me t-to that dreadful evil…?"
"Oh… who's gonna tell him?" Another student chimed in, giggling all the while.
"T-tell me w-what? What i-is it? Is th-there s-something o-on m-me? I c-can feel i-it. I-I can fe-feel it! Get it off!" The students laughed as he jumped about the classroom pulling off an imaginary ghost attached to his person.
Appear weak when strong. Appeal to incompetence. Hypocritically, there was a measure of competence within the fool. A jester played the part of entertainer for the King, yet every day he played his role with the threat of death on the line for a single misstep, all the same he survived.
It was time to see just how much of it was a performance.
Students filtered out of the lanes through the doors and towards the great hall. I nodded to Michael, Terry and Anthony to go ahead. Approaching the dumbfounded professor, who quickly flicked through scattered notes.
He immediately dropped what he was doing, clumsily reaching towards the book he dropped on the ground, bumping his head on the lectern in the process. "A-Ah! Mr. A-Ayanokouji, or i-is it t-the y-young D-Dumbledore?"
"Ayanokouji or Kiyotaka are fine."
"I-I see. Wh-what can I-I do f-for you?"
"I couldn't help but be interested in your visits to the Forbidden Forest. If possible, I would like to hear of the things you witnessed there."
"I-It wouldn't do t-to tell students of th-those m-matters…"
"Of course, in the pursuit of knowledge. I'm not asking to see it personally, I simply want to learn more about magical creatures."
"T-Truly? I w-would've thought y-you had access to m-much more information than a s-simple p-p-professor like me." It wasn't strange for him to think that.
"That's a misconception. The magical world is not my native one. But above all else, I trust your personal experiences and study more than textbooks that might be placed before me. Texts have their advantages. However, if possible, I would like to learn more from a primary source. As a scholar yourself, I assume you can understand my interest."
"E-Eloquently put, sh-shall we s-schedule something? P-perhaps-"
"Humble apologies, professor. I was assuming we could talk now, in my excitement I had forgotten lunch time arrived. I often forget to eat when studying and such."
"N-Not the best for a g-growing b-boy. But I-I can u-understand when the more fantastic elements of this world fall before you, you can't help but e-examine them." He readjusted his posture slightly, his words becoming more pronounced with a semblance of enjoyment or intrigue.
"I knew we could see eye-to-eye. If you aren't against it, perhaps we could skip lunch this once and have a steadier discussion without the noise of the cafeteria disturbing us?"
"Yes… Y-yes. P-perhaps that wouldn't be such a bad idea! A-allow me b-but a m-moment." The teacher immediately started to clear the blackboard and clatter about with notes and instruments on his desk.
"I-I suppose i-in the a-attempt to learn it is i-i-important to address th-things from the g-ground upwards. G-generally, animals m-make their h-habitats in three m-main mediums. The land, sea and s-sky. These a-are usually further broken up into certain animal kingdoms o-or types of a-animals e.g. mammals, reptiles etc. Th-this is the case for m-m-muggles."
"Is that not the case for the wizarding world?"
"M-magicians tend not to reduce animals into these set groups, m-magical tendencies make too m-many th-things either i-inconsistent or generally im-impossible to place. For example; amortal creatures s-such as boggarts or p-poltergeists are created without birth or reproduction, yet they aren't human and exhibit 'living actions' without necessarily being alive." He separated the board into two halves with a small box appended to the bottom of the board seemingly unrelated to either of the other sections. Drawing a small ghost in the centre of the box and labelling it as amortal.
"I suppose the fact we don't even know what a real boggart looks like is also a huge hinderance when classifying them." If we don't know what an adult looks like, nor do we know what a child looks like or if they even reproduce in the first place, there's little we could do to scientifically or logically group them together. It sounded like the number of magical entities around the planet were vast enough that a single creature like this wasn't the only outlier.
"Indeed. Y-you could make the argument that a human without any fears could p-possibly show the truth… B-but that has yet to be researched." I wonder if there was magic to temporarily induce emotional numbness in the target, perhaps then you could test it? But the boggart might just transform dependent on the person's memory. If all my memories indicate I was afraid of fire for example; then whether I had an emotional response to fire when a Boggart transforms after displacing my emotions may not affect the transformation in any way. Well, in theory. It would assume we know what the boggart uses to know the fears of the target. Memory, magical pheromones, appearance etc.
"But I'm getting off topic. W-we're generally differentiated into two larger categories that encompass a lot of different animals. C-can you guess what they are?" Judging by the fact that amortal beings are left out of the discussion, then the difference must first be between the living and the dead. Meaning these two sections are living beings that have some sort of major difference that easily categorises them. Of the possible answers a few come to mind, the most basic being…
"I would guess either bipedal/humanoid by stature or perhaps communicative, the capacity for language as a method of trans-species-speech." Goblins were more than capable of speaking to humans, I imagined the same for the Mer people that appeared during the first day at Hogwarts. The Black Lake seemed to be their home.
"The latter. C-correct. Of course there are distinctions between those classes as well, not all species involved in the communicative spectrum have the same c-capacity for emotive reasoning or language comprehension. H-however, they are at least capable of the bare minimum." He made a few crude scribbles to denote humans, Mer people and centaurs along one side and stranger creatures along the other side of the board. Annotating them with 'communicative' and 'non-communicative' respectively.
"That's a troubling classification."
"…Y-your reasoning?" His hand stoppered on the board, chalk lightly falling and dusting the floor. He seemed to be eking the answer out of me.
"The comprehension and reflection of language is not a disqualification of intelligence or wit." Even more conventional animals like dogs were said to have the intelligence of a small child. Dolphins were stated to have one of the highest intelligences out of most wildlife. Apes and chimps had better special recognition and memorisation than the majority of humans and often used tools of their own. The list went on.
Humans did the same thing within their own species, age and socioeconomic background gave a perceived judgement on intellect and the like despite the reasoning for that not being solid. The same could be said for wizards as they seemed to believe more heavily in blood purity as a sign of ability.
In other words; prejudice.
"Precisely. A problem I've held with the industry for years on end! Dragons, especially understand and can even respond to cognitive information on the same level as small children, that grows exceptionally as they age, with lifespans much greater than the average human they could be capable of insight far beyond the human mind. Pixies, hold no human language, yet have a similar penchant for childish pranks and tricks that us humans and other communicative species show. Yet they are categorised otherwise. And don't get me started on the more humanoid species!"
"I sense that wizards look down on them." A discernment that was difficult to ignore.
"Frustratingly so! They use the human model as the basis before anything else. One thing muggle history would teach all of us is that we descended alongside those animals we believe to be lesser than, we came from common ancestors. The ability of language doesn't bind us by likeness, it only restricts the understanding we have of other creatures." I had never thought of it that way. Every animal communicates within its species, but our reliance upon verbal communication sets us back when it comes to understanding species different from our own.
"That poses an interesting challenge. May I ask how trolls are sorted?" I had never seen a pixie in person, but I imagined it as a palm-sized human like insect. If that was non-communicative, I wondered just how the troll which lacked any ability to fundamentally understand our language could be categorised.
"A wonderful example, truly. With first-hand experience you would understand that they cannot understand the human tongue. Trolls have less deductive reasoning than that of the common house pet. Yet they are 'communicative'. Categorised alongside humans, centaurs and even goblins."
"I suppose the argument is that they share more in common with humans than other creatures, similar bone structures and postures, only enlarged." Likely their vocal chords are alike enough to mimic human language, whether they have the understanding for it is another issue. It might even be possible to find the so-called 'smartest' troll and teach them the human tongue. If you can replicate it in one individual, you could theoretically induce the same behaviour in them all.
"Yes. But it's reductive. These limitations are what stop us from advancing as a class of organism. The wizard… is a stagnant creature." He roughly pressed the chalk into the blackboard a stark snap sounding out as the instrument cracked in half.
"…"
"Just look at how far muggles have come since the industrial revolution, every 10 years transforms the way the muggle world looks, new inventions which change the state of mind in a matter of a year from implementation. A simple example is CCTV. What was once an unmonitored world has now been filled with both a deterrent to crime as well as an implement for gathering evidence passively. The internet and online media allow for immediate conveyance of simple and intricate messaging in an instant. Newspapers have become obsolete in that world, engines have been improved far beyond the combustion engine residing in the Hogwarts express. Pharmaceutical and modern medical practices have both improved the quality of life and increased the lifespan of the average human. There will come a day when they naturally live to an age outcompeting the average wizard." Certainly you could argue that.
"…Why do you think we've stagnated?" The chalk came to a drawling stop once more on the blackboard.
"You stop improving when you believe you've achieved perfect form. In biological terms: there is no selection pressure to cause adaptation." A pointless pursuit. Or rather there wasn't even a target in sight. Just the endless waves of a desert that stretched eternally, each dune a new height, but each as meaningless as the last.
"Profound! You speak beyond your years, I knew I had found a kindred spirit! Yes, we've stagnated, soon enough will come a regression. We wizards believe we've travelled every route and achieved the final destination. Dragons are domesticated or sequestered to our breeding grounds. Even in Hogwarts the Mer people and Centauri are shackled to the Black Lake and Forbidden Forest respectively. Our overconfidence and pride will be our inevitable downfall. The number of forerunners for new magics has long since dwindled, we have become a society where the so-called free-thinkers of ages gone by are called upon but never succeeded…" He began to whisper excitedly to himself, just loud enough for me to make out what he was saying, an almost crazed look in his eye as he jotted down more and more notes on the board.
In some ways human philosophy was the same, most referential texts were to those long past. Plato, Aristotle. Even the more recent names are of the past; Nietzsche, Marx, Machiavelli, Rousseau.
We looked at the past experiences and thoughts on life during those times, whilst they were important to understand and also interesting in their own right. Philosophy was also a reflection of the time period those experiences were shaped by. For one the difference between Marcus Aurelius's meditations and the meditations of Nietzsche could be rooted in belief. During the time of Marcus Aurelius spiritualism and worship were more commonplace, thus his writings reflected it. Nietzsche on the other hand believed this spiritual hole needed to be filled somehow and wondered upon the implications of the ever-decreasing spirituality during his time with the realisation that belief was a necessity for the human experience to remain positive as life holds no inherent meaning.
However, these are both limited by the time.
Aurelius' insistence on living with nature becomes less possible as the ages go by, eventually technology will increase to the level where it supersedes nature. If the world becomes bound by a technocratic monolith, then it is impossible to remain attached to nature.
In the same vein with Nietzsche, greater than the human 'will to power' is the simple desire to survive. As religious and metaphysical belief declines humans will look to another source of motivation to strive for. Rather than 'will to power' or any great motivator, the answer wouldn't be any known God it would be the personal one, that which holds the desire of the heart in its own hand.
Control, or the shadow of it anyway.
"Centaurs? Do they have their own magical schools? I haven't noticed any non-human students as far as I'm aware."
"The most we've ever accepted is a half-goblin. That should tell you how deep this runs, it's rooted in the system of Hogwarts itself." The school itself? Did he mean the culture? Or was this another of those foundational rules the school was founded on, much like Sakayanagi stated regarding my own admission?
"It seems like we're avoiding the possibility of learning knew magics."
"We could trade information with centaurs or the Mer by allowing them access. But it's never happened. Not once."
"I suppose every race wants to protect the advantage they hold."
"…Certainly that's a part of it, however it goes further than that…" He seemed reticent to speak, apparently thinking he had taken the conversation too far. I didn't mind stoking the flames once more.
"It's a monopoly."
"…" His gaze was magnetised to the floor, however his eyes had widened almost popping out of their sockets.
"With the formal teachings of magic under their belt and access to the best teachers and facilities it makes humans the arbiters of knowledge, nothing could be more important to magical kind."
"Yes! Yes! Yes! It's fear! Fear makes us incapable of reaching our true ability. Fear of knowledge, fear of others acquiring that knowledge. We are shackled by that mentality! Just think of the things we could be capable of!"
"It makes sense as a self-preservative. Keep magic close to your chest so that you could defend yourself." The idea of a giant or troll wielding practiced magic, and its own ridiculous physical strength was a particularly worrying subject. There would be no way out if that troll we encountered was resistant to the magic Harry and Ron had invoked. Or if it had recognised its own weakness and disregarded the club. The situation would've been much worse.
"Other species have their own practices of magic secret to us humans, however it doesn't outcompete us. Instead they specialised to remain useful in this otherwise stagnant world. It's the difference between thriving and surviving." If you're worried about your next meal or keeping your territory, naturally you become less able to invest in future generations compared to magicians that essentially have free reign of the magical world.
"The goblins control commerce, rather more particularly they control the flow of currency… I suppose the Mer would control sea routes, tide or travel in some way?" I wasn't sure about the centaurs, I didn't know enough about them.
"Decent assumptions. It's a convenient trade-off to wizards, but limiting all the same…"
"Hm?"
"Ah, I suppose history hasn't covered it yet. Or behavioural studies of magical creatures, I had forgotten I was talking to a first-year student for a moment… Goblins are natural hoarders, so much that they are often described as greedy creatures. However, the truth is a bit different." A greedy banker, it's rather on the nose.
"In what way?"
"Goblins are exceedingly prideful and exceptionally gifted in combat. The main reason for this is that they don't value precious metals like we do. If you have a lot of gold then you are rich, correct?" Assuming the price of gold doesn't fluctuate wildly, and you can actually trade it.
"That would be the common assumption."
"Gold is the same as dirt to a goblin. What they truly value are magical implements and the effects that they can bring. And even then, only taken in service to increase their combat capabilities." Who would've guessed those small guys were really warmongers.
"They value function over form then?" Gold could be used to make similar tools to copper for example. If you were to ignore the abundance and market value of these metals, then one could argue gold is in fact an even better electrical component compared to copper. Hence, to goblins it would make sense to use it instead, that's the kind of argument he was making.
Come to think of it… "I suppose Professor Flitwick is a former master duellist."
"His abilities lean more to the human side than other goblin's battle tendencies. But that's a story for another day. Perhaps you'll be able to parse the story from his lips, much like I did during my formative years here." As I thought he was an alumni of the same house. I wonder why he decided to return as a teacher… and just why his neuroticism had gradually disappeared. He continued speaking unaware of my current questions.
"The stronger and better tools that a goblin possesses the higher they are in the social hierarchy. The lead banker and owner of Gringotts' is actually the recognised strongest goblin of the time, that would make him the leader of his race in Britain. Goblins age rather slowly so they have an 'election' every decade or so, with the strongest goblin taking the mantle as chief. The acting chief is an unassuming goblin that usually sits at the head of the main hall. However, he's yet to be dethroned in nearly half a century." Not best to judge a book by its cover, especially when magic was on the table. Noted.
"I suppose it makes sense that they unanimously handle the economy then…" There's little risk in being stringed along if they hold no interest in the monetary system. However, that didn't get rid of the potential for corruption. Just because they don't view precious metals and money as valuable, doesn't mean the importance it has to humans is lost on them. You could argue the fact that they even bother managing funds like this is precisely because they understand its importance in the normal and magical worlds.
Honestly, the more of the magical world that was revealed to me only exacerbated the number of questions rattling around inside my mind. "I'm slightly confused, Professor."
"Y-yes, what is it?"
"If there's such big problems between the magical races, how are muggle and magician ties becoming stronger?" You could argue about the fact we look the same, but on a cultural level it's night and day. Racial differences tend to become eliminated when the social pressures become the same.
For example a poor Caucasian man would have more in common with a poor African American male compared to a rich Caucasian male. Even if they were from different countries (assuming they were both first-world), their day-to-day lives are much more similar. Of course there were plenty other factors that would need to be controlled, but it gets the point across.
In the same way, all of these magical creatures experience the same magical world, whereas normal humans have no exposure to the magical world. The closest thing would be media of a fantastical nature.
"Because it's convenient. Magicians that are born through mutation learn at such a young age they have to have parental guidance. Being on friendly terms helps with that." I suppose the parents were basically handing their children to strangers for most of the year during a stage of major growth. It might be more of a surprise that many parents accept.
"The magical population isn't as large as the muggle population. We live long enough, and many are devoted to study that they don't reproduce… A-ah, sorry, that might be gross to talk about."
"What?"
"Well-"
"People copulate the same as any other animal. It's natural." How did he think I even got here?
"Ahem, be that as it may…" He turned to the blackboard, sketching a few lines. "The population grows and grows. We have to hide in plain sight, eventually…" His hand came to rest as two lines intersected.
"Borders are crossed."
He nodded. "As more and more of the world is taken by the ever-increasing muggle population less space will be afforded to magical kind, I believe a huge crisis will arrive when that time finally arrives." When borders started to infringe upon each other and tensions increase, I can imagine the outcome…
"When you said that relations had increased likely there was a miscommunication. Whilst there is a noticeable reception to muggle-born wizards from municipal government and institutions, however, that isn't the case with normal muggles. Magical society is very much still secretive, bar a select few muggles that become assimilated or affiliated through certain means. Of course, those muggle-born witches and wizards still have much difficulty connecting with pure-blooded families. Blood runs deep here. And since pure-blooded families tend to have a higher-standing within magical society on average… you can see the issues that might arise." I was right in the beginning then, familial association is relied upon heavily in magical society. That must be why Michael, Anthony and Terry were accustomed to using family names. It was similar to the way aristocrats would function in Victorian era Britain. Given the apparent stagnation of the magical world, the times would also match.
"If you don't mind me asking, why do you pretend?" I wouldn't allow him to hide behind circumstance.
"…Ah… Too late, huh? I suppose I got a bit ahead of myself." Professor Quirrell rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, this time deftly making sure not to nudge the turban.
"…" Silence tended to make people talk.
"…People don't understand us. I've been the laughingstock of magical creature studies for the last decade. After so long of knocking on a brick wall, you eventually learn that no one wants to listen. This conversation itself is a miracle. Even the more open-minded teachers at this school don't listen to new ideas. Even the Hea-… No, it doesn't matter. The fact I could have a like-minded discussion with a single student was worthwhile."
"Do you plan to do something about it?"
"I could use some of that childish optimism." He chuckled lightly, nervousness overcoming once more. "I can't change things, not like this…"
"I don't know. But I'm certain after speaking to you… You aren't finished here, it doesn't seem like you've given up on whatever it is you're trying to find."
"Well, if I do find anything… I would hope to share it with you. From one scholar to another... Innovation is dead, we need more young wizards like yourself."
"If I could add one more thing."
He barely looked in my direction, his focus still stuck on the blackboard beside him. His eyes lazily focusing onto the meeting between the two borders.
"Don't give up on the students. I feel there are more that might be receptive to your ideas if they were spread further. Especially if it comes to the muggle-born wizards." It was hard to imagine that muggle-born wizards would be against his ideas, the fact that his ideas ran opposite to Dumbledore's was also a plus.
After a moment of silence he turned to me. "…I shall think about it. Now, hurry along. You should have enough time to at least grab something for lunch."
"Understood, Professor."
"And Ki-… Ayanokouji. Thank you."
"The pleasure was all mine. Professor." I bowed shortly before exiting the classroom, leaving the professor to his notes. His face holding the traces of satisfaction masked with a plain façade as he rifled through the papers.
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Word count: 4419
Might seem strange that I'm giving this much attention to Quirrell, but to me he had the potential to be an interesting character. He's basically one of the only antagonists that doesn't come from Slytherin, so I plan on doing some interesting things with him. Since he was a previous Ravenclaw I figured he would be fascinated with whatever his field of study is, I also think that it's a waste that we don't see much of the other species throughout the series, so this was a way to bring both of those ideas together.
My ideas for Quirrell will greatly diverge from the canon, maybe that's disappointing for some, but it's what I intend to do. The same could be said for most major antagonists. To me there isn't much point in making a fanfic like this unless it's going to tell a vastly different story than the original, while trying to capture the world of the original. That's the philosophy I try to go along with in everything I write.
Feel free to visit patreon.com/Shir0249
Hopefully you all enjoyed the chapter, let me know your thoughts in the comments below.
Until next time.