54 Harry Potter : Chapter 53: Effects IV
Fawkes trilled a single high and determined note, which was answered with a shrugging motion by the Slytherin student: "I'm working on it... there's more than one way to skin a cat."
What a horrible saying. "I hope you didn't use such sayings around young Minerva, Mr. Hagrid, have a seat."
...
Reluctantly, and exchanging one last longing glance with Fawkes, the unnaturally tall student walked towards the chair placed in front of Albus' desk, enlarging it silently with a tap of his wand before returning it to a pocket in his trousers.
The Transfiguration Professor held back both an apology for not having enlarged the seat himself, a reprimand for using magic without permission, and a praise for the precise non-verbal casting. His interaction with Fawkes distracted me.
"Several students reported that," and Dumbledore peered at the much younger wizard from above his half-moon glasses when he spoke those words, his tone peremptory.
"you attacked them and left them without their wands afterwards, also, I can confirm that you didn't alert any member of the faculty of what had occurred."
"I'm sure that those several idiots didn't mention how they cornered me to engineer a confrontation that they were too incompetent to win." Hagrid fished out of one of his pockets the wands of those he had defeated and safely placed them on the desk of the Transfiguration Professor.
"There will none of that language, here, Mr. Hagrid," Albus chided firmly, his eyes briefly darting to the wands in order to reassure himself of their unblemished state, "and you claim that they were the instigators?"
"I have no interest, need, or gain from fighting with mediocre nobodies that I'll forget about in a few days." the shrug was so casually dismissive, so painfully arrogant, that Dumbeldore couldn't help but frown.
Yes, I can see how he manages to get along with Tom Riddle. His stern visage still in place, the Transfiguration professor simply shook his head, and matching the cadence of the words he had just listened to, hoping that it would help to get the message across, he spoke.
"Nevertheless, you understand why it isn't acceptable for students to perform unsanctioned, unregulated, unsupervised duels in the corridors?"
"There is an inherent risk in every act of violence that an actual tragedy might unfold." Rubeus started counting on his fingers, his eyes gleaming with cleverness as he spoke between lips tilted in a wry smile.
"People shouldn't get used to resorting to violence as a first answer because on the long term it generates a populace of brutes. And wizards like to pretend that they're not animals heavily influenced by the most basic of instincts, resorting to violence shakes that belief, which in turn causes tensions that few are equipped to handle properly."
A part of Albus' mind started immediately to dissect what he had just been told, while the minor fraction of his focus remained on the conversation going on: "Also, it's against the rules."
The Slytherin student seemed to actually startle at that addiction, only to nod with another faint upwards twitch of his lips: "Well, yes, there is that: those I listed are some of the reasons why those rules are in place."
The Albus held back a sigh: "I think you'll have to write some lines..."
"Uh, so you actually make people write lines for detention?" the surprised tone of the Slytherin student managed to summon a sparkle of curiosity in Dumbeldore.
Ignoring the rude interruption, even if he frowned at the much younger wizard in what was a bland reprimand, the Transfiguration professor asked: "Are you disappointed?"
The unnaturally tall Slytherin rose his hand and made a pinching motion with his fingers, keeping them apart by a narrow margin: "A bit: writing the same thing, again and again, is tedious and doesn't really do anything but make my mind wander while my hands go on until they cramp."
"Maybe that'd teach you the consequences of your actions." Dumbeldore rose an unimpressed eyebrow, "Also, I'm rescinding your Hogsmeade Privileges for the rest of the year, as apparently you cannot be trusted to act in a civil manner when unsupervised around your peers in the school, nevermind the village."
The unnaturally tall Slythering accepted the stated punishment without even a twitch, hunching forward on his seat after exchanging another glance with Fawkes, who stared back impassively.
"Ah, but the mechanism of forcing a child to associate 'detention' with 'bad behavior' doesn't quite work on me, not in this case I'm afraid."
Hagrid grinned openly, an odd light shining in his eyes: "For one, I'd consider detention for the rest of the year an acceptable price for outshining those lackluster people even in an ambush they implemented on me."
Albus narrowed his eyes at the ironic tone the student had used to refer to his peers, but let it go, as he had refrained from calling them 'idiots' once more.
"Secondly," the unnaturally tall Slytherin rose two fingers of his right hand," given that of course it's clear to you what were the correct actions to take, I think it'd be more effective, in terms of me learning my lesson, of course, for you to explain what you'd have done, to convince me that my choices were flawed: this is how a lesson sticks, I think."
"I'm not required to explain myself to you, young man," a displeased frown etched itself on the Transfiguration Professor's features then, "and disrespecting your elders isn't doing you any favors, do not think that the staff hasn't noticed your barely acceptable behavior: you'll do as your told because we are the staff, and you're a student, it's that simple."
"I'm sorry professor, and I want to make clear that I have the utmost respect for you and admire your accomplishments," Hagrid sounded almost genuine when he spoke.
"But I can't truly bear to play the part of a child caught misbehaving when I think I'm in the right."
"Mr. Hagrid, you're thirteen." Albus stressed out as he sat straighter in his chair: how could it be that a boy as brilliant as Rubeus undoubtedly was, couldn't see how unacceptable his behavior was?
"Bah, age is just a number, wisdom can be found in the oddest of places..." Hagrid gestured dismissively with his hands while his eyes darted again towards the phoenix perched nearby.
"Maybe I was just born with an old soul."
Fawkes gave an amused squawk right there and then, only to proceed to fly out of the window immediately after. Shaking his head minutely, Albus tried another way to reach out to the boy: "What would you expect a detention to entail?"
"Well, for starters, to talk about what has happened and what I did wrong." Hagrid had the audacity of outright grinning as he spoke, "And then to underline what a proper, acceptable reaction would have been like. Even if I'm not sure we can manage that without a little bit of hypocrisy showering us on the way."
Intrigued despite himself, the older wizard rose an eyebrow, inviting the student to go ahead, and silently indicating that expected Hagrid to elaborate on what he meant by Hypocrisy.
"Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus." the Slytherin positively oozed smugness as he rolled his massive shoulders.
"It's the school's motto, isn't it? If we are honest about it, I acted exactly as a Hogwarts' student should, and showed those barely average wizards that actions have consequences that may go beyond their expectations: the idea of tickling a sleeping dragon might be funny, but they'll think twice before a repeat performance."
"Ah, but the victims," Dumbeldore stretched the word with a particularly stern tone, "all agree on the fact that you were the first to cast a spell."
"And since when the voice of the many was enough to swap a truth with a lie?" Hagrid seemed supremely unconcerned with what was going on, his attention returning to the window that Fawkes had just left through.
"In any case, it doesn't matter much."
"I find your disinterest and dismissal of the gravity of the situation to be quite worrying," Dumbledore spoke softly but his blue eyes were like chips of ice.
"we're talking about a grave offense, and you insist on thinking that it doesn't matter much?"
"Well, ultimately, without a reliable witness, and the parts involved in a scuffle are never reliable by definition, the truth of the events cannot be confirmed." the unnaturally tall Slytherin shrugged once more, as if declaring that particular topic closed.
That'd be true enough, and if this was a court, it would be relevant. It was hard to not like the rhetoric banter that the third-year student had chosen to defend himself with, but Dumbeldore had a duty to guide and direct all the children that entered Hogwarts, and despite his uncanny intelligence and maturity, Rubeus was still exactly that, a child:
"Nevertheless, a student of your intellect could have contrived a way to avoid violence, couldn't you?"
"I could have used long words to confuse them and to slip away." Rubeus hummed, his eyes rising towards the ceiling as if he was considering that situation for the first time.
"But that would only have delayed the problem: but I cannot explain the shades of a sunset to the blind, I needed to use a tongue they could understand, and as they sought violence, this was the fastest method to have them back off for the rest of their time in this hallowed halls."
"Well, considering your well-argumented objections," Dumbledore spoke with a barely restrained smile under his white beard when he saw an almost hopeful surprise blossom on Hagrid's face.
"you'll have no issues in writing three separate essays of two feet each on 'Why violence isn't acceptable in the corridors', 'Why students are to follow the rules', and 'Why you should be respectful to the staff and other students alike'.
Let's say, for the next week: and be aware that I expect an exceptional quality in each of the essays, Mr. Hagrid."
Oddly enough, the problematic younger wizard seemed outright pleased by this detention: "This sounds entirely more effective, I agree."
Still, the Slytherin student seemed too satisfied for Dumbledore's tastes, and so he added: "Of course, the banishment from visiting Hogsmeade also stands."
"Of course." Rubeus simply nodded with a quirky grin, casting another glance at the window Fawkes had flown out of before looking back at the Transfiguration Professor.
"May I go now?"
Dumbledore took a deep breath at the absolutely unapologetic boy sitting in front of him. One of the feathers of Fawkes had become part of a wand that chose that boy, and while Albus was impressed that such a young man could recognize in a split second the hazy connection that the wand could hold with the phoenix, it didn't help the Transfiguration Professor in how to deal with his misbehavior.
It was interesting that he'd argue so clearly to be treated more as an adult that made an honest mistake than the misguided child he was, and Albus was willing to try his method.
If only to check whether he actually believed what he said or if he simply found the mindless boredom found in writing lines a worse punishment than having to write and argument three different essays.
There was also the absolutely unconcerned reaction to his banishment from visiting Hogsmeade, which would have struck any other third-year student quite harshly.
I wouldn't want to ban him from his extra-curricular studies. Albus of course knew of the classroom that the student had repurposed as a specialized potion station, and he could forbid Rubeus from it for a few months, but Hogwarts was a school, and withholding knowledge in a place of learning sat ill with the Transfiguration Professor.
"You may go." the aged wizard nodded thoughtfully, and his exceptional brain kept running on those topics a he observed the retreating back of the unnaturally tall Slytherin.
Where before he had assumed the boy's quirks as a result of the difficult life one so different had to live, now he simply felt that there was something he wasn't understanding about the third-year student.
And without his conscious input, a part of his rather exceptional mind started to churn about Rubeus Hagrid: picking apart all that Albus knew about him only to analyze it under different perspectives and put it together once more.
How interesting.
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AN:
Of course, while I've built up to this situation for it to be this way, the main strength of this arc was not the fighting, but the chat with Dumbledore, with only a bit of the blatant parallelism I'm keeping up with the MC and Riddle.
I know that I 'wasted' a few chapters worth of this fic on McGonagall, Riddle, Dumbledore, Black, and Slughorn: but as I have said, a first-person Pov isn't enough to build the kind of massive fic I want Meddling Giant to be, I need meaningful supporting characters that are not one-dimensional.
Having said that, now that I've worked on the 'background' characters a bit, I'll be able to power through much of the remaining years at Hogwarts only with the MC's POV, this should speed up the whole thing.
As I had begun revealing with his first lessons of both Charms and Transfiguration, I can now confirm that incantations and wand movements are crutches more than anything else (it was the only way for me to explain accidental magic in this setting): you've seen the MC do something with his wand and a little fight that I used to showcase the main difference between how he casts magic and how all the other students do so.
The only thing that came to mind (to justify the pervasive and almost mandatory existence of incantations (that make no sense) and wand movements), besides the epidemic laziness that some authors use to justify why any SI is capable of doing stuff no other manages to, is that incantations and wand movements speed up considerably the casting of any kind of spell.
That's all there is to it: with deep understanding or not, incantations 'trigger' a mental pattern in the wizard or witch (like a mnemonic device to remember a specific paragraph of a book), that immediately generates the 'spell' (relative to that mental pattern).
This of course has the effect of making a large arsenal of spells a viable (and almost mandatory) necessity for any adult wizard or witch.
On the other hand, relying on the proven and true method that Minerva is starting to leave behind with her 'superior transfiguration' (but only in regards to Transfiguration) limits the flexibility of the wizard: as I've underlined in this chapter, Hagrid uses the usual, banal spells to attack, but his shield, which formes much more slowly, remains up almost independently.
What Hagrid performed in the previous chapters with his wand and the concept of fire, isn't something that could be achieved in the same way with an 'incendio'.
What I am trying to say is that incantations refer to spells that (varying a bit from wizard to wizard, based upon the individual's characteristics such as ability, practice, and attitude) have always the same effect. 'Incendio' cannot be manipulated to generate a fire-whip, no matter how much one trains with it, because 'incendio' generated a burst of fire, period.
Of course, if someone hammered on it long enough, 'Incendio' could be the starting point, and practice and determination could allow the wizard to then generate a fire-whip.
That is to say that the fire-whip would be a more or less unconscious application of Hagrid's method after the standard casting of a spell.
...
chat with Black:
The chat with Black hinted at some events that could eventually unfold, and it also addressed some of the MC's thoughts and plans about his more or less drunk ramblings at the last Slug-party.
Of course with this arc , I confirm that the Deathly Hallows will be part of the story, because they're just too good to let them pass by without me taking a bite.
Now the MC is in the odd position of wanting to get back at Riddle, because ultimately it's obvious that the attack is Tom's fault more than that of the kids at school, and not risking his enmity, because he just confirmed just how damn useful he can be for Hagrid's main interest, which, I remind everyone, is to learn and craft Magic.
...
the phoenix:
I finally got around to seeing 'Secrets of Dumbledore'... my god how disgustingly low can a franchise go.
The whole phoenix-appearing to a Dumbeldore because of 'reasons', the super-obscurial that changes opinion on right and wrong with 0 character development to sustain it, the building up of a relationship between scamander and Tina only for the latter to completely vanish.
The magical animal that actually chooses the leader of all wizards when the first movie of Fantastical Beasts is all engineered around the idea that wizardkind dismisses all the magical animals as unimportant beyond the worth of their parts... Yeah, beyond the little references I've made to the first movie, I'm dropping that shit like it has the plague.
So, Dumbledore is actually a fantastic person, an extraordinary wizard, and whatnot, and because of his own merits instead of this shit prophecy-plotting, he has managed at some point to befriend Fawkes, and that's it.
Also, I'm more and more convinced that Ollivander told Albus about the phoenix wands only when the latter asked about Tom Riddle, revealing that he was indeed Voldemort.
With that precedent, it only makes sense that Garric would keep the Headmaster posted on the fate of Fawkes' second feather.
As you've noticed, the MC has the habit of getting slightly tipsy on his own drinks from time to time, unfortunately, while the last time it passed with no consequences, this time it loosened his tongue just enough to make him mouth off at the wrong moment.
For all of his genius, this Dumbledore isn't the wisest old man to have ever lived, trying to steer Harry Potter towards martyrdom.
while of course he's more likely to interact in a peculiar manner with his students, he's still a member of the faculty, and Hagrid's consistent barely concealed lacking of respect must be addressed, as all schools have the underlining purpose of getting students (adults to be) used to follow the proper hierarchy.
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