Chapter 9: Setting a man on fire

Klaus walked into the Gryffindor common room from his practice and found Harry, Hermione, and Ron sitting in the corner, whispering to each other.

"Hey guys, are you scheming to take over the world? If yes, I want in."

The three shared a look, seemingly agreeing on something. Harry was the first to speak. "We think Snape was trying to sneak into the forbidden corridor."

"The one with the Cerberus?" Klaus asked. He had an idea of what was going on, even though it had been a long time since he read the books. He still remembered the main plot of the story, if not the details. He wasn't sure if Quirrell even had Voldemort on the back of his head, but even if he did, he knew this world was quite different from the book. Other mages existed, not just humans, and he was too weak to do anything.

"How do you know about the Cerberus? Did you go there too?" Ron said.

Klaus just shrugged. "Everyone does. Don't you guys follow the rumour mill?"

"No, I have more important things to do than listen to rumours," Hermione said, her nose in the air.

Klaus shrugged again. "Your loss. There are a lot of interesting things you can find out. That's why I spend some time at the end of every week talking to Lavender and Parvati. For example, the Weasley twins found some kind of obstacle course underneath the dog."

"They did?" all three said. "How did they get past the dog?" Hermione asked.

"That's what I heard. As for how, I have no idea. Anyway, I have no idea what Snape was doing. For all we knew, he was feeding the dog. Although I wouldn't trust him with my dog if I had one. How is your meditation going?" Klaus asked, changing the subject.

Harry was the first to answer. "It's going great. I do it every night, and last night I started condensing mana."

"Great! What about you guys?" Klaus looked at Ron and Hermione.

"I'm close," Hermione said. "Me too," Ron added.

"Great! Once you succeed in casting mana bolts consistently, we'll move on to enchantments."

"What about the fire magic you did?" Ron asked. Klaus mentally facepalmed. 'Why did you have to ask that when I still haven't come up with an explanation that will let me offer you the ritual once I trust you a little more?' Klaus thought.

After a few seconds, he finally answered, "Give me some time, and I will explain how that works."

"Don't you trust us?" Harry looked a bit angry. After all, they had just shared their suspicions about Snape.

"If I didn't trust you, I wouldn't have started teaching you," Klaus answered a little angrily. "But using elemental magic isn't liked by the Ministry, and if someone found out or you told someone, we could all get into trouble." After Klaus said the last part, Hermione looked a little ashamed. She still remembered Dumbledore's words about the importance of trust in friendship. Nobody noticed it, though, and they all agreed to wait until later to discuss elemental magic.

After that, they all went to prepare for sleep. Tomorrow was going to be Harry's first Quidditch match, after all, and they needed to be well-rested.

...

The next morning was cold as Klaus, Hermione, Ron, and Neville made their way towards the Quidditch pitch.

On their way, Hermione and Klaus started discussing magic when Hermione asked him, "How come you never use incantations outside of the classroom?"

Klaus thought for a moment about how to answer that question until he decided to go with a broader explanation.

They were close to the Quidditch pitch when he started explaining, "Now, that is a complicated question. It has a lot to do with how logomancy works." He was cut off by Hermione, "Logomancy? What is that? It sounds like it has something to do with languages, but I didn't find anything like that in the library."

Klaus looked at her annoyed but continued, "I was just getting to that, and you probably didn't see it because of the library wards. They hide books based on what year you are." Hermione interrupted, "They do what? I thought the restricted section is for dangerous books. How do you know this?"

"I asked Professor McGonagall when I was trying to research animagus transformation. Books in the restricted section are those that nobody can get except with permission from the professor." Klaus wanted to look into animagus transformation in the library because his assistant wouldn't let him have any of the books the Keeper's library holds on the topic, saying it is too early, but he was really curious.

"I see. Can you return to logomancy now?" Hermione asked as they sat down to wait for the match to begin.

"Where was I? Ah, right. I won't go too deep into logomancy because it is a complicated topic, and I only know this part I will explain to you and some interesting anecdotes." Hermione nodded in understanding, and Klaus continued.

"First, you need to understand that the words of a mage hold power. For example, when I cast my fireball spell, if I use the incantation 'Fireball' while casting it, it will be cast faster and it will be stronger. This is not because 'Fireball' is an actual incantation, but because I am expressing my intent into the world.

Now, this leads us to incantations that are used by a huge number of mages. Those incantations, for lack of a better explanation, get remembered by the world. This makes it even easier to cast a spell with an incantation that the world remembers.

There is also a theory that if you tried to use an incantation from Earth on some other world, it wouldn't work the same. It would probably be as good as me saying 'fireball.'"

"That is fascinating," Hermione said as they watched the game begin.

"Yes, but it also has its downsides." Hermione looked at him in question after he said this, so he continued, "Well, I tried using the levitation charm while incanting 'Lumos.' It drained half my mana, and even then, I barely managed to cast the spell."

While they were in discussions, Hagrid had joined them in the stands and was now pointing at Harry, who seemed to be fighting his broom.

...

Hermione, seeing this, took binoculars from Hagrid. "It is Snape! He is manipulating the broom," she yelled.

"Let me see!" said Ron and took the binoculars from her.

While this was happening, Klaus remembered this event. 'Isn't Hermione supposed to set Snape on fire?' That sounded like an awful idea. It might have worked in the book, but that was a book, and this is real life. He was sure that a wizard like Snape should be able to feel someone casting that close to him.

As he saw Hermione start fighting her way through people, he followed her. He managed to catch up to her just when she pushed Quirrell. "Wait, Hermione!" he called out, as he grabbed her by her robes. Looking around, he saw Professor Flitwick. "Professor, can you do something? Harry will fall!"

Professor Flitwick jumped in his seat in surprise. "Mister Ectorius, what are you doing here?" "Harry?" "Ah, right. Mister Potter. There is no need to worry about him. Even if he falls, there are enchantments on the field that prevent fatalities. All he would get is a few scratches and bruises."

Upon hearing Flitwick's explanation, Hermione, Snape, and Quirrell all stared at him stupidly. Finally, Snape spoke, "There are enchantments on the field?" he asked in disbelief.

"Of course, there are. This is a school. We try to avoid children dying. Now, we don't usually tell this to students. It's more exciting that way, you see."

They could only nod. Just then Lee Jordan announced that Harry had caught the Snitch

...

Klaus and his Gryffindor group were at Hagrid's having tea not long after the game.

Hermione and Harry were arguing with Hagrid about Snape, while Ron was talking about the game with Neville. Klaus pretended to listen while he actually condensed his mana because using every chance to do so was just a smart thing to do.

Just then, he heard two things that interested him. The first was the name of the Cerberus, 'Fluffy', and the second was, "Nicolas Flamel the Alchemist? He is real?" Klaus said.

"You know who he is?" asked Hermione.

"Well, yes. Before I started here, I was interested in anything magical, and I came across the legend of Nicolas Flamel. It is said that he created the Philosopher's Stone." As Klaus said that, Hagrid let out a weird noise.

Harry, noticing this, yelled, "The Philosopher's Stone is in Hogwarts!" Then, in a quieter voice, he asked, "What is the Philosopher's Stone?"

Klaus explained the legend of the stone, believed to create the elixir of life and turn lead into gold. Then Hagrid cut in.

"Listen up, you lot! Yeh can't be goin' around spillin' the beans about this! It's a secret matter between Dumbledore and Flamel, understand?"

The children all nodded in confirmation. "Don't worry, Hagrid. We will protect the stone," Ron said jokingly.