"So, this is the library?" Vincent thought as he walked around the bookshelves, "it"s enormous!"The library probably can fit a house or two and still have room for more no problem. Vincent flipped through book by book trying to get a better understanding of the world. He"s already heard a lot from Sister An, but it never hurts to stock up on knowledge.
"History of Goblins, Hogwarts: A History that"s sounds like a must, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them sounds really cool," Vincent kept piling the books with one hand while searching with the other, "huh, Beginners Guide to Potions, potions sound like something I can do."
As he was looking at the book, a yelp came from behind just as he felt someone crash into him. The books fell out of his hands as he caught the person from falling any further.
"You ok there Hermione?" Vincent gave a wry smile recognising the brown mess of hair
"Vincent?" Hermione looked up in surprise, Vincent saw her face go red slightly at the physical contact, so he let go of Hermione who took a step back, "what are you doing here?"
"Same thing as you, searching for books," Vincent nodded towards the books at Hermione"s holding before bending down to pick his ones up
Hermione shook her head of embarra.s.sment and placed her books to the side to help Vincent.
"Hogwarts: A History, this is my favourite book, it shows how the school came about, who made it, what kind of spells and enchantments this place uses," Hermione kept going on and on about the wonders of the book
Vincent smiles as he watched Hermione talk, whenever Hermione talks about something, she loves she changes into a different person.
Hermione stopped as she realised, she had been babbling for a while and blushed a deep red, "Sorry, I realise that I might ramble on a bit too long when it comes to books."
"Not at all," Vincent said as he started carrying his books, "I think it"s nice to see you like this, it shows how knowledgeable you are."
"Thanks," Hermione gave a grateful smile as they borrowed their respective books, "so what subjects are you thinking of doing?"
"Well, I"m definitely going to do Herbology, Muggle studies is also another,"
"Why Muggle studies?" Hermione asked curiously
"I was mostly raised on the streets so most of my basic knowledge is lacking," Vincent said as they made their way back to the common room, "Oh, and Potions sounds like something I can do."
"Hmm, Potions," Hermione gave a thoughtful look
"Something wrong?" Vincent asked
"Well, truth be told, you will find a lot of people here who doesn"t like Potions," Vincent gave a questioning look, "it"s mainly due to the teacher."
"Who"s the teacher?" Vincent asked
"You"ve met him," they both entered the Gryffindor Common Room, "his name is Professor Snape, if possible, try not to tick him off."
...
"So, you"re not a vampire?"
For the first time in his life, Snape had no other wish than to murder the innocent looking student before him. Hermione just face palmed herself, feeling that her warning was for nothing.
"No, Mr Wong," Snape said slowly through gritted teeth, "I am not a vampire, I am a potions master and a teacher, I could easily have you for remedial lessons—"
"So, I can have extra lessons?" Vincent asked thoughtfully
Snape was literally at his wits ends with the boy. He just stared at Vincent, "After cla.s.s, visit me in my office."
"Yes sir," Vincent nodded and proceeded to work on his strengthening potion.
Snape"s eyes twitched as he looked at Vincent who was concentrating on the lesson. Harry and Ron looked weirdly at Vincent before going back to their potions. Draco smirked feeling like Vincent was in trouble.
"Good thing Hermione"s here to help," Vincent thought, "there are some steps that only a wizard can do."
When Vincent entered Snape"s lesson, he was told directly that no muggle can make a potion on his own. This is mainly because there is some magic involved when making a potion.
"Well, don"t feel too bad," Hermione said seeing Vincent"s dejected look when he was told that a muggle could not possibly make a potion on his own, "Since you can"t make potions on your own then I could always help you."
"Thanks Hermione, but I can"t always rely on you to help," Vincent gave a bitter smile as he stirred his pot
What no one noticed was the blue little pixie that decided to come out. The blue little creature wriggled out of Vincent"s hoodie and watched him stir his potion.
Vincent added in a some salamander blood and was about to ask Hermione for a.s.sistance before noticing the blue pixie sitting on his arm.
His eyes widened and he was about to call out before the pixie put its hand into the cauldron and started making strange sounds. Vincent watched in amazement as he saw the reddish like solution turn into a pure bright blue.
"What the h.e.l.l?" Vincent thought, "this pure colour, if what the book says is correct, then this little fellow just sped up the strengthening solution process."
"Vincent, do you need any help?" Hermione looked over and was stunned, "wha—is that the complete strengthening solution?! Even if you had magic it still would take days before completion!"
"Miss Granger if you do not stop talking in my cla.s.s—" Snape"s eyes widened incredibly at the completed solution
He stared at it for a good five minutes before announcing to the cla.s.s, "Everyone, cla.s.s is over, Mr Wong, come with me."
Vincent followed Snape to his office leaving the whole cla.s.s confused. Harry and Ron both gave Hermione a questioning look which she returned with a shrug.
...
"Show me how you made that potion with that pixie." Snape ordered setting down a cauldron with multiple ingredients beside it
Vincent and the pixie just looked at each other before Vincent started the process. Every time he put an ingredient in, he would then ask the pixie to add magic to the ingredients. For whatever reason, the pixie obeyed Vincent"s orders and completed the job perfectly. Snape was watching the process with intrigue, the way Vincent prepared the ingredients and handled the process was at an expert level. If he wasn"t a muggle then he would have become a great potions master on his own.
Now the pixie, he had heard about Lockhart"s awful lesson, but he didn"t know why it followed Vincent around. Pixies, especially Cornish Pixies, are known to be untameable, so seeing a pixie help a muggle was an extremely shocking sight.
"Professor Snape, we"re done," Snape shook himself out of his thoughts before taking a look at the potion.
Snape took a small vial and filled it with the liquid. He smelt the fragrance and nodded his head.
"Seems like you got lucky today, Mr Wong," Snape said as he pocketed the vial, "I"ll have to inform the Headmaster of your little, "Friend" in case of any incidents."
"Yes sir!" said Vincent before he sheepishly asked, "So is this solution mine to keep?"
Snape was looking through the cupboards for something to store the solution when he heard Vincent"s question. He b.u.mped his head and then glared at Vincent who was already using his own vials. He saw Snape"s look and looked confused.
"I mean I did make it along with this little guy," Vincent pointed to the pixie on his shoulder who gave a nod in agreement
"One, vial," Snape gritted his teeth as the words came out forcefully
He couldn"t fathom what was going through Vincent"s head as he stared at the boy who filled one vial up. He turned back to continue his search before realising that Vincent hadn"t left.
"What, are you still doing here?" he asked dangerously
"Don"t I have remedial lessons?" Vincent said as if it was obvious
Snape finally snapped.
"GET OUT!!" Snape roared and used his wand to blast Vincent out the door
Vincent landed face up with the pixie sitting on his belly. The blast wasn"t meant to harm anyone, so he didn"t have any injuries.
"He must be having a bad day, I"ll come back after dinner."
Snape heard this and just yelled in frustration. Vincent walked away wishing Snape good health as he listened to the screams.
...
"So, Snape blasted you with a spell?" Hermione said incredulously
"Yep," Vincent said as he was jotting down notes for Herbology
They were all gathered together back at the Gryffindor common room. The pixie that Vincent had picked up was currently sleeping against Hedwig. Vincent thought that the two of them got along pretty well.
"So, what are you going to do about the pixie?" Harry asked, Hedwig still hasn"t forgiven him nor Ron for the car incident and instead grew closer to Vincent
"I"ll keep it," Vincent said, "I don"t think I can make it go away even if I wanted to, it seems quite attached to me."
"Are you out of your mind?!" Ron yelled startling a few first years, "don"t you remember the chaos they caused?"
"But you got a rat," Vincent said feebly
"Yeah a rat that does nothing!" Ron said
Harry and Hermione were silently laughing at the absurd argument that Vincent put up.
"But, it"s cute right?" Vincent said
"Oh, stop it Ron," Hermione said, "if Dumbledore says he can keep it, he can keep it."
"Still don"t like it," Ron grumbled as he continued his homework, "So, this was one h.e.l.l of a first day. Mandrakes, Lockhart"s terrible lesson, you can"t change my mind Hermione, and Vincent got a new friend."
It was an hour before dinner when Vincent got up.
"I think I"ll go for a walk, I"ll be back a bit before dinner."
The three of them nodded as Vincent made his way out. Along the way, he b.u.mped into Ginny.
"Hey Ginny, how are you—?" Vincent furrowed his eyebrows as he examined Ginny, "Are you alright?"
Ginny looked extremely pale like she saw a ghost. Headless Nick pa.s.sed by whistling a tune.
"Ah, yes, I"m fine," Ginny said, "just thinking of a nightmare I"ve had."
Vincent saw that she was still unsettled and decided to give her a pat on the head.
"Well I"m going on a walk, want to join me?"
Vincent and Ginny both walked out of the school and into the school grounds. They didn"t talk about any important things and just chatted like friends would. Ginny who would usually not say a word to Vincent or Harry before going red was laughing, she was generally enjoying talking with Vincent. She also got to see the little blue pixie that sat on Vincent"s shoulder. He was glad that at least someone found it cute.
"So now that your here, who"s keeping London safe?" Ginny has this question on her mind ever since she knew Vincent was attending Hogwarts
"A wizard called Sister An," Ginny"s eyes widened while Vincent had a wry smile
Ginny learnt about Vincent"s life and how him meeting Dumbledore changed his life. She learnt about Sister An and the Orphanage she took care of, so she was surprised to hear that she was doing the Trespa.s.sers job.
"Even though she doesn"t approve of me risking my life, she doesn"t want London to know that the Trespa.s.ser"s gone, otherwise it would incite other criminals," Vincent explained, "she also studied what you call muggle fighting techniques so even without magic, she can handle herself."
"Wow," Ginny had this image of a super cool woman fighting of criminals, "she sounds amazing."
"What"s this place?" Vincent asked as they stopped in front of a hut.
It was located at the edge of a large forest that gave an ominous feeling to Vincent.
"This is Hagrid"s place," Ginny said, "Ron told me all about it, he"s the groundskeeper of Hogwarts. Ron visited him a lot last year along with Harry and Hermione."
"Huh, shall we say h.e.l.lo?" Vincent asked
"Um, ok," Ginny said feeling nervous about meeting someone new
Vincent walked up and knocked on the door.
"Com"n!" boomed a deep voice
The two of them heard large heavy footsteps before stopping at the door. The door opened and Vincent"s eyes widened at how big the man was.
The man stood around eleven and a half inches with a s.h.a.ggy beard and hair. Despite seeming terrifying, Vincent didn"t feel any hostility from the man"s kind black eyes.
"Who ar you lot?" Hagrid asked, "let"s see, red hair, freckles, must be a Weasley. Yer brothers Fred and George have givin me some h.e.l.l, if ya know what I mean."
Ginny giggles a little while Hagrid turned to Vincent, "An you, you"re the muggle that Ron brought in eh? How"s Hogwarts for ya?"
"It"s a bit disjointing, but I quite like the school." Vincent said honestly
"That"s good to know," Hagrid said before smacking his hands together, startling both Vincent and Ginny, "O where av my manners gone, come in!"
That little meeting with Hagrid would be something that Vincent would never forget. If Sister An was the motherly figure, Hagrid would be the big brother that Vincent never had. Vincent and Ginny were interested in the many stories that Hagrid had to tell. The little blue pixie played with Fang"s, the dog, ears while it just sat there uncaring.
"Huh, you only have twenty minutes till dinner starts," Hagrid exclaimed as he looked at the clock, "better hurry along then."
"I"ll see you soon Hagrid," Vincent said
"See you!" Ginny gave a wave as they walked back to the castle
Hagrid watched them leave with a smile before heading back inside the hut to boil some tea.
"Vincent, thank you for inviting me," Ginny said happily, "It"s been really fun."
"Anytime, if you want to do this again just tell me." Ginny nodded as she skipped back to the castle.
Just before Vincent followed, he had a sudden thought.
"Ginny, I"ll come back late, tell the others to not wait for me."
Ginny looked back in confusion before nodding.
"See you back!"
She gave a wave before making her way to the castle.
Vincent walked around the school grounds before finding what he was looking for.
"h.e.l.lo," Vincent took both his rods out while he placed hi Lauren jumper to the side along with the pixie, "I"m afraid that my skills will get rusty, maybe you could help?"
The Whomping Willow swayed slightly as if acknowledging the challenge. Some of its branches were still in slings from the car crash.
"K, here I go!" Vincent said
As soon as he stepped into range, branches came flying at him. Vincent jumped over one before partying another with his rod. Since he couldn"t parry the full force, he angled his rods just right so that he redirected the force elsewhere.
Vincent pushed off a branch that was coming from beneath him and used the momentum to do a backflip before landing on the ground. Vincent grinned to himself, even though Hogwarts is amazing, he still missed the thrill of being in a fight.
The blue pixie just sat there and watched curiously as Vincent dodged and blocked. There were times when he would get knocked out of range, but he would always dive back in.
Throughout that time, he didn"t notice that he was being watched. A blond-haired girl stood by the castle wall watching before walking back inside.
...
"What, the b.l.o.o.d.y h.e.l.l happened to you?!" Ron asked as they were eating dinner
"Just some exercise," Vincent said plainly as he pa.s.sed a piece of lettuce to the pixie who started nibbling at it
Vincent"s appearance grabbed a lot of people"s attention. His hair was currently messed up, more than usual, his face was covered in dirt and the pixie eating on his head definitely didn"t help. Neville could not bear to sit near him due to his fear of pixies.
"Scourgify," Hermione waved her wand causing the dirt to slowly disappear
Vincent blinked a bit before examining his now clean skin, "Huh, neat spell, thanks Hermione, now I smell like soap."
"Honestly, what did you do?" Hermione sighed as she ate her meal
"I exercised," Vincent said
"Whatever."
...
Snape was heading towards Dumbledore"s office. He wanted to let the headmaster know of Vincent"s capabilities.
"Sherbet Lemon," he said to the gargoyle that guarded the entrance
The statue moved revealing a set of stairs that Snape proceeded to climb. He entered the office and was surprised to discover that he was not the only teacher there. Professor Squat, Professor Lockhart and Hagrid were all gathered around the desk with Dumbledore sitting behind it.
"That boy was able to calm a Mandrake, no wizard let alone a muggle has ever done such a thing!" Professor Squat said, "He definitely can"t be kicked out of Hogwarts!"
"I"m going to have to disagree there my dear Professor," Lockhart said with a twitch in his eye, "even disregarding how brilliant of a teacher I am, that boy is a muggle, he can"t be taught to fight against the Dark arts. Not to mention HOW HE COMPLETELY DISREGARDS MY BRILLIANCE!!"
Lockhart slammed a piece of paper on the desk. Dumbledore, Hagrid and Professor Squat all looked at the sheet. It was the Vincent"s test paper that Lockhart gave out in cla.s.s.
Question 1: what Gilderoy Lockhart"s Favourite colour is —lilac
So far, the answers are alright, but then they looked lower.
What is Gilderoy Lockhart"s worst fear — I don"t think he would know what fear means, probably mistakes it for bravery
What is Gilderoy Lockhart"s secret ambition? — staying popular
When is Gilderoy Lockhart"s birthday and what would be his ideal gift? — Don"t know. Friends? Do people even turn up for his birthday?
What, in your opinion, is Gilderoy Lockhart"s greatest achievement to date? — Being qualified for a teacher"s degree
Has Gilderoy Lockhart ever won the Dunstable Duelling Championship for wizards or just been pipped at the post? — any answer is a lie
Professor Squat and Hagrid tried their hardest not to laugh while Dumbledore gave a wry smile. They kept reading until the bottom.
Which is the person name which Gilderoy Lockhart has given to his broomstick? — Gilderoy Lockhart
At that Hagrid gave a loud booming laugh while Professor Squat managed to endure.
"Well, Vincent is an honest boy," Dumbledore said obviously amused, "a little too honest if I might add, but with your expertise, a brilliant wizard like you should most definitely be able to Yeah him one way or another."
"Of course, have you heard about my teaching skills? Why, I once taught—"
Lockhart went rambling on while Dumbledore turned his attention to Snape, "Ah, Severus, what do you have for me?"
"The boy Vincent has grasped the art of potion making, the only problem is that he can"t do it without the a.s.sistance of others." Snape began grabbing everyone"s attention, "So imagine my surprise when he made a fully matured strengthening potion."
Dumbledore"s eyebrow raised as he Snape handed him a sample of the potion, "Interesting, do you know what method he used?"
"It was a Cornish Pixie, yours I presume Lockhart," Lockhart"s eyes widened, "it seems to be quite attached to the boy, and going by what Professor Squat said earlier, he seems to have a great affinity with magical creatures."
"A good majority of magical creatures are able to sense a person"s true nature and are even said to look into their soul," Dumbledore said while stroking his beard, "Pixies in particular can be sensitive to someone"s emotions, so it"s safe to conclude that something about Vincent"s nature and soul calmed the Mandrake and attracted the pixie."
"He just can"t take my pixie, I mean those devilish creatures were extremely hard to get —"
"I"m sure a teacher as brilliant as you can let go of such a small matter," Dumbledore said
"Ah, but of course, something like this is nothing to a man such as myself!"
Everyone rolled their eyes on how easily Dumbledore was able to control Lockhart.
"For now, Vincent is a definite member of Hogwarts," Dumbledore said firmly, "the Ministry wouldn"t dare oppose me over such a small matter."
Everyone chatted for a few more minutes until it was only Hagrid, Snape and Dumbledore left.
"Hagrid what"s the problem?"
"Nothing too serious, jus tha my chickens have getting rather rowdy for some strange reason, nothin much to report." Hagrid said before snapping his fingers, "oh, Vincent and Ron Weasley"s sister came by to visit."
"Thank you for letting me know Hagrid," Dumbledore said kindly, "now if you don"t mind, I want to talk to Severus alone."
"O"course Dumbledore, goodnight," Hagrid made his way out of the office leaving only Snape and Dumbledore behind.
It was an hour later when Snape went back to his office, he kept replaying the conversation he had with Dumbledore over his head. His mind turned to a certain boy with a lightning bolt on his head.
"I"m trying Lily," he murmured softly as he approached his dungeon, a woman appeared in his mind having the same bright green eyes as Harry
He sighed as he walked into his office.
"Hey Professor Snape, can you look at my potion, it"s a combination between the strengthening solution and the girding potion."
Snape went blank faced as he stared at Vincent making a potion in his office. He looked around as saw multiple scorch marks indicating that the Potion blew up. His cupboard where he keeps his potion making materials was unlocked while his desk had a huge gaping hole for whatever reason. His jars of strange objects were mostly intact, mostly. All in all, his office was wrecked.
"What are you doing here Mr Wong," Snape asked quietly, trying his hardest to control his rage.
"Remedial lessons sir," at this point Snape completely lost it
...
"Huh, what"s all that racket?"
A good majority of students and teachers were still up. It was near night when they heard the sounds of multiple explosions coming from the dungeon.
"What on earth is going on?" Professor McGonagall said in exasperation as she and multiple students stood at the entrance to the dungeons
The students were mostly Slytherin as their dorms were in the dungeons, all of a sudden Vincent came into view looking all burnt and smoking. His pixie was currently hiding in his pocket.
"In a hurry, the Professor"s gone mad," he said as he ran right past the students
"What the—" McGonagall began before another figure emerged
"CONE BACK HERE, I"LL KILL YOU!!" Snap has never looked more frightening as he murderously shot spells at Vincent before chasing him with blood shot eyes
Everyone moved out of the way of the mad teacher as he shot all kinds of spells. McGonagall swore she saw a certain emerald green spell fly out of Snape"s wand.
"Was that the killing curse?!" she thought alarmed, "Severus wouldn"t — no it must have been my imagination."
...
"I just used some ingredients, is that so bad?" Vincent said to the pixie who just shrugged at him, "Well, here goes nothing."
A red bolt shot towards Vincent who had enough time to deflect it using his rods.
"Huh," Everyone stared in amazement at Vincent"s act, it is known that wizards can deflect other wizards" spells but a muggle doing it, it has never happened before.
"Ok, I can fight back," Vincent thought confidently before seeing Snape manipulate the fire from the torches, "or not."
Vincent dodged the hot bolts of fire, he nearly got singed several times before he hid behind a pillar.
As a last-ditch effort Vincent opened the mixed potion he created and took a gulp before drinking it. He felt a surge of power and energy flow through him.
"Ok, let"s see what I can do now."
...
Snape was furious. He had never been so mad in his life. Something about Vincent seemed to tick him off more than he"d like to admit. He wasn"t even thinking about his spells, so they weren"t as controlled as usual.
"When I get my hands on you," Snape thought before realising that Vincent was coming straight at Snape with rods at his sides, "does he really think he can beat me?"
Snape fired off another series of fire bolts before seeing something that shocked everyone there.
Vincent stomped on the ground, breaking it before launching himself vertically causing all the fire bolts to miss. Vincent landed on the ceiling before once again launching himself straight towards Snape.
Snape narrowed his eyes as he conjured several snakes out of the flames and launched them towards Vincent.
Just before Vincent made contact, he threw a rod straight at Snape who tried blocking it with a force field sort of spell. He smirked before seeing a large crack in the shield before the rod smacked against the side of his face. Vincent landed on one snake and knocked out another with his rod. He the grabbed one by the tail and threw it at the stunned Snape, who reacted in time to cancel the spell.
The moment the snakes disappeared Vincent shot forward intending to knock Snape out before seeing Snape"s wand pointed at his forehead.
"Stupefy,"
Vincent got thrown back across the hallway before blacking out.
...
Snape put his wand away. His anger was gone, and he looked at the knocked-out form of Vincent curiously. He heard footsteps behind him, he turned to see Professor McGonagall and several students chattering amongst themselves. Most of them had never seen a fight in their whole lives so this was something exciting to watch.
"Professor Snape, What is the meaning of this?!" Professor McGonagall asked furiously
Snape"s eyes twitched as he looked back at Vincent who was now snoring as if nothing happened.
"Remedial lessons,"
"Excuse me what?"
"Mr Wong here came to me for remedial lessons," Snape explained coldly, "Well, I gave him a lesson, now if you will excuse me, I will now see the headmaster to make a personal apology."
McGonagall was surprised at Snape"s willingness to apologise. He didn"t even take any points or insist on punishment. She sighed as she levitated Vincent"s body with the pixie sitting on it looking around curiously. She tried levitating the rods but found that to her surprise they didn"t respond.
"Probably a charm put on it by Dumbledore," she thought as she picked them up by hand and escorting Vincent back to the dormitories.
...
"Severus, it"s only been half an hour since we last spoke, what"s the matter?" Dumbledore was curious seeing Snape back so soon, he was further intrigued by how messy his clothes were and the red like bruise on his face.
"The boy, Vincent Wong," he began, "I want him as my personal apprentice."
Dumbledore"s eyes widened slightly.
...
Hogwarts didn"t sleep well that night. News of the fight between Vincent and Snape spread like a wildfire, soon everyone knew the news. This story would go on for years as the Trespa.s.ser"s first true fight in the wizard world.
The culprit of the commotion, however, was busy snoring away in the Gryffindor dormitories with a pixie on his belly doing the same.