Chapter 9:
The second year begun, and Kaiser was already bored. He was thankful the professors let him read whatever he wished during their classes, seeing how his grades spoke for themselves. Though, some were skeptical at first, and would ask him questions to test his comprehension. He did pay attention where it mattered, so he didn't offend any teachers. Needless to say, Snape was an exception. He really didn't want to be in his bad books for now, as he was quite competent. He asked him questions whenever he had difficulties, and answered, or pointed him in the right direction, at least.
The books the medi-witch gave him proved to be quite interesting. While most spoke of the human body in general, the magical aspect of it. It spoke of the magical core in more details, even mentioned the soul and a certain "life force", though all it stated was that it was an obscure branch of magic, and that only its existence was proved. There was no other information about them other than that. Some families did have more information about the subject, but it was all protected knowledge and family secrets. He spent a month on those alone, not because they were difficult, but because while he read those, he also read some books about the subject from the RoR. Not to mention, it wasn't his only area of interest.
Thanks to the huge leap in his magical capacity, he can now perform more complex spells. Two of which he was looking forward to: the Stunning, and Shielding spell. He tried them before but the effects were not satisfactory. When he asked professor Flitwick about it, he told him that the spells were taught in the fourth year for a reason.
Professor Lockheart proved to be as useful as a man's nipples. If his beginning of the year quiz wasn't enough for the students to guess that much, then his actual classes should be more than enough.
'What is Lockheart's favorite color? How many awards did Lockhart win?….' and that kind of questions.
His books were ridiculously expensive, and useless, for that matter. They talked about his adventures with known dark creatures, though the way he dealt with them are supposedly exciting and full of action and mystery, while, the truth is that most of the methods used to deal with them are false. For example, his extensive adventure with the dementor was pure hippogriff crap. It is well known that dementors are immortal. They cannot be killed, unless naturally due to the passage of time. There is no known way to deal with them. No curse could affect them, not even the three unforgivables. The only spell known to affect them was the [Patronus] charm.
He really wished he didn't have to hear the words coming out of his useless mouth, but he had no choice. He was in a position of authority. As a professor, he could make his life difficult with detentions. So, he still came to his class, took his book and let him do his job. Or at least, pretend to.
His Occlumency training seemed to have hit a roadblock. He was having difficulties clearing his mind, with his latest incident, and it reflected on all new spells he was trying to learn. Nightmares became frequent, but his situation was a paradox: those nightmares halted his progress, but at the same time steeled his resolve to excel. Though the nightmares appeared to get more creative, as they developed into new situation, where he is facing Voldemort, surrounded by ugly death eaters, or/and facing a basilik and helplessly staring at its deathly eyes. And then Dumbledore having to sacrifice him for his pursuits, all for the greater good of course…
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As Kaiser sat in the great hall after an exhausting day to eat his dinner in peace, he was shocked at a question that has been asked by a first year student.
"What does mudblood mean?"
Kaiser, along with everyone else, eyed him questioningly. He asked him: "Did someone call you that?"
"Well… yes, one of the Slytherin students seemed offended at my presence at the school, and called me that. I reckon it's some kind of insult, but I have no idea what it means." He innocently stated.
"There is this common misconception that a person can be classified according to his blood: pureblood, for someone with wizarding ancestry from both parents, half blood, when only one of the parents has a wizarding ancestry, and then there are first generation wizards, also called muggle borns, or the more pejorative word: mud-blood. Comparing their blood to mud, since it is impure and lesser according to them. The blood supremacy movement is also believed to be the fueling idea behind the last war. Needless to say, there is no logical evidence whatsoever, about those claims. On the contrary, there are plenty of evidence, that magic couldn't care less about what kind of blood you have. Otherwise, first born generation wizards wouldn't exist. There are some interesting theories that states that we all come from the same ancestry, and that, at some point, all those who claim to be pureblood, have squibs or No-Majs as their ancestors. To sum it up, 'pure-blood', 'half-blood' and 'mud-blood' are terms made by certain people with the egoistical and instinctual need to feel better than the others." Kaiser said matter-of-factly in a monotonous voice. He was a bit tired to deal with this right now, but he did his best.
Daphne frowned deeply. She seemed offended at his claims, suggesting that she did believe at some level in the blood purity propaganda. "You said there is evidence stating otherwise. Your theories do not categorize as such, do you have any concrete proof?"
Kaiser looked pensively into her eyes. "Albus. Perceval. Wulfric. Brian. Dumbledore." He smirked.
She raised an eyebrow at his example. "One man isn't enough to set the rule."
"Lily Potter, née Evans." he answered without missing a beat.
"Who is she? I never heard of her. More importantly, why would you mention her?"
"Harry Potter's mother. She found a way to deflect the killing curse to its caster, ending a war that plagued this country for years. If that is not a remarkable feat, I don't know what is." Kaiser smirked again. Shocking them was quite fun.
"Isn't it Harry Potter who deflected the killing curse?" One of the first years asked.
"Yes, you are right of course. A 16 months old toddler was capable of deflecting one of the three unforgivable curses, known to be impossible to block with any known shield, let alone deflect, cast by a wizard claimed to be the darkest wizard of all time, before even being able to speak properly. I admit that would make a lot more sense." He answered sarcastically.
One of the qualities of Ravenclaws is that they tend to use their brains a bit better than the others, once you get them working. They slowly started realizing that what he said made a lot of sense. Daphne Greengrass was no exception, though she still seemed hesitant. After all, it was difficult to remove a belief she held for such a long time. 'Pure-blood' families always believed they were better than 'muggle-born' wizards after all.
Kaiser turned to her: "I've only given you two examples. There a lot more, if you bother to look." With that, said, he returned to his meal, before retreating to his chamber.
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The dreaded day finally arrived: Halloween. Kaiser knew what was about to come, or to begin. A freaking basilik. Even though that hat gave him significant information about it, he still dreaded the beast. It could kill with a single look after all.
He spent the Halloween feast nervously silent, until he heard a commotion. He got up and followed his fellow Ravenclaws. And, as expected, the sight of Mrs. Norris petrified on the ground, with Mr. Filch crouching down next to her sobbing, and accusing Harry Potter , obviously, of murdering his cat.
The headmaster and the professors arrived and explained to him that his cat wasn't dead, but petrified. They escorted the sad caretaker and his beloved cat to the infirmary. And as people cleared the way for them, the words written in red, presumably blood, were visible for all to see.
'The chamber of secrets has been opened. Enemies of the heir, beware.' and the muttering of terrified children started. They could all see the gloating Slytherin students, with Draco and his typical sneer on his face. Draco looked at the 'golden trio' : "Enemies of the heir, beware. You're next mu-" he stopped mid sentence, noticing a pair of crimson eyes looking straight at his soul, with a wand in hand glowing dark green. He was a step away from pissing his pants. 'K-k-killing curse?!'
You'd think that no one is stupid enough to cast a killing curse in front of so many witnesses, but Draco was too terrified to think. Not that he ever did, for that matter. So, he quickly retreated with his friends(or goons?). And the hushed discussions started again. Kaiser retreated to the Ravenclaw tower to sleep.
The next day, during lunch time, at the Ravenclaw table.
"So, Kaiser, word around is that you were about to send a killing curse at Malfoy yesterday. Is it true?" Tracey teased him.
"Nice trick, by the way. Though I hoped it was the real deal, though I'm sure I'm not the only one." Daphne said with a rare longing face. "Aren't you afraid he's the heir of Slytherin? And your outburst might have him target you next?"
"Draco Malfoy, The heir of Slytherin?" Kaiser asked with a shocked face, before bursting into hysterical laughter. "That's the most hilarious joke I've ever heard."
"What's so funny? It's a possibility." Daphne asked, annoyed at him making fun of her question.
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"It's not a possibility, it's hilarious." Kaiser corrected. "Honestly, do you see anything Slytherin in him? Cunning? Power? His only power stems from the words: "My father will hear about this.". And I seriously doubt whatever monster Salazar Slytherin left in his chamber would be impressed by that threat. Besides, the Slytherin line never mixed with neither the Malfoy, nor the Black family. So, it wouldn't make sense."
"How would you know that?" Daphne challenged, but only received a raised eye-brow in response. "Right, you just know, as always."
'The Gaunt family were known for their inbreeding. There is no way in hell they'd give their precious parseltongue gift to another line.' He thought to himself.
"Then who do you think is the heir?" asked a curious and terrified Michael. Having a psychopath roaming the school with a deadly monster petrifying or killing students isn't very reassuring.
"Doesn't matter. If the students are in danger, the school will just close and the Aurors will take over." said Kaiser matter-of-factly.
"What about the murder fifty years ago?" Daphne asked, apparently more informed about the incident than the others. "The chamber was opened fifty years ago, and a student died."
"Yes. There was a series of student petrifications, then a student, Myrtle Elizabeth Warren, was a found dead, in the bathroom she now haunts as Moaning Myrtle. Just avoid that bathroom and you'll be alright." Kaiser answered nonchalantly .
"Is there a universe where your statement makes any sense?" Daphne asked with wide eyes. She never expected him to be so lacking in common sense.
"Aha! I never thought you were a believer in the multiverse theory! I do believe in it too." Kaiser said cheerfully, trying to distract her.
"Well it is an interesting theo- hey! Don't distract me. Answer the question!"
"Sorry to break it to you, but wizard common sense is a myth. Besides, you have flying brooms here, you're one to talk." Kaiser rolled his eyes.
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After mastering the stunning and shielding spells, Kaiser was now focused on [Silent Casting]. There are three ways to cast spells: Verbal, Non-Verbal, and Thought casting. The verbal method is the traditional and widely used way, where the caster would speak the spell he wanted out loud. The non-verbal method is similar in that the caster still needs to perform the correct wand movement, but he doesn't need to speak the spell out loud. The Thought Casting, however, is the most difficult one. One would only need to think of the spell he wanted to cast, and it would come out of his wand, without the need for the incantation, nor the wand movement. Only true masters can perform Thought Casting. But the last method raised a whole lot of questions in Kaiser's mind. 'Was the universe waiting for wizard to say: stupefy, to allow a stunning spell to come out of his wand? Does it make any sense at all? Why do we need to declare our spells like idiots?'
But there is an important lesson to learn from it: Magic mainly requires intent and will. The verbal incantation isn't as important. Even when being taught spells, the correct imagery, representing intent is a lot more focused upon. Willing something to exist hard enough for it to materialize, however, depends heavily on each individual.
Kaiser began with his favorite: the [Levitation] spell. Why? Because it is the basis for a lot of spells. The Levitation spell revolves around the ability to generate force. It has a lot of versions. Some manipulate the air pressure around an object to generate a force, others force their magical force to interact with the material world by become physical (which is the widely used method, but it has a major flow: it cannot be cast upon yourself, as it wouldn't respect Newton's third law, which, believe it or not, actually exists in this magical world.). When mastered correctly, one is able to generate a force in any direction, and even program objects with charms or runes, to move in a specific ways. Brooms are such an example of the application of the Levitation spell, though they manipulate air pressure.
Kaiser was able to "create" force out of nothing, which is an incredible feat at his 'age'. He changed the intent of the spell: instead of imaging his magic flowing beneath the object and lifting it (an invisible hand?), he takes the 'scientific approach', by imaging the object's gravity center, then a force vector influencing it, supplying its energy from himself. His magic seemed to understand him, for the lack of a better word, and translating this image into the actual phenomenon, by applying force over the lower surface of an object equally, or at least, he thought so. Later, by testing the spell on an object with a creamy consistency, he'd find out that he was actually transferring his energy over to the object as a whole, meaning all particles that makes it out, and transforming it into acceleration (kinetic energy) in a given direction. Because, if his earlier theory was correct, a deformation in the object should be clearly visible in the object, as the force would be only applied in its bottom surface. Which would create a whole lot of questions in his minds about what the possibility entails: is Magic/Magical energy so versatile it can be transformed into any kind of energy?
Now, he wanted to be able to do it silently. Telekinesis was a dream come true after all. He wished one day he'd be able to do it wandlessly. But he truly underestimated the difficulty of the task. The first two weeks, he was practicing Occlumency more than Silent-Casting, to lesson his frustration at his failure. Having a clear mind is very important for the process. It was only at the third week that he was having some success. But the spell was week and could hardly qualify as 'success'. But it was enough to restore faith in himself, and give him a boost in energy. Try waving a wooden stick around, hoping to get some magical effect, but getting nothing in response. At some point, you start doubting your sanity.
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Two months have passed, and Kaiser could now perform most of the spell he was interested in silently, and he seemed to be able to learn new spells silently a lot more easily, needing only a few days to perfect it. Though, some still appeared weaker than their verbal counterpart, like the [Stunning] and [Shielding] spells. He thought that with enough practice, it should get better.
Also, his Legilimency/Occlumency training with Hermione was getting better. His Legilimency probes were now a more stealthy and difficult to detect (though someone with enough practice could easily detect him), and Hermione seemed more skilled at defense, which was probably the result of her meditation during the summer, though she was nowhere near his level. He could even cast it silently now, as long as he had a wand in hand, but he never used it. There was no need to do so, and he didn't want to violate other people privacy, and most of all, it was uncalled for.
The reactions following his silent casting the usual detection spells was interesting. His year mates wondering why they didn't hear the usual incantation before he began his spells, until an older year pointed out with a shocked expression that it was silent casting. It earned him the respect of many of the Ravenclaws, as he was a source of pride to their house apparently. One has to know that he built himself quite the reputation as the "helpful guy". Whenever someone had a question about something, usually started by asking him first, and he always seemed to know the answer. Even the more competitive student had grudging respect for him.
Professor Flitwick was very proud of "Ravenclaw's jewel", always bringing him up in conversation with his fellow professors and they all shared the feeling. Dumbledore was always pensive whenever he was brought up. On one hand, he should be proud of having such high achieving student in his school. On the other, his investigation led him to believe otherwise. The boy had no history whatsoever before reaching the orphanage. He seemed crazily driven to learn magic (which he was.), and very talented as well, that it was frightening. Even more, he was paranoid as hell, always checking his food, never making eye contact, surveying his surroundings in the corridors (he may have stalked him once or twice under disillusionment charm, though Kaiser knew when he did. He acquired the Marauder's Map from Fred and George Weasley, after striking a deal that involved prank, potion and spell ideas.). And he seemed a lot more mature than his age, which shouldn't be possible, seeing the circumstances under which he lived. He visited the orphanage he lived at, and asked about him and his behavior. That rang all kinds of alarm bells in his mind. He reminded him too much of one Tom Marvolo Riddle. Also, the incident he had in the carriages during the beginning of the school year didn't escape his notice. He tasked Snape with asking the few students that were present, and reading their mind discreetly.
The silent casting alarmed the Slytherin student, since their table was just next to the Ravenclaw table. They became very wary of him; a very skilled 'muggle-born' at such a young age wasn't good news. Unlike what people might think, they weren't the typical villains as seen in the movies. While a majority shared blood supremacy ideals, they could use their brains when it mattered. They could see his potential, and the speed at which he was developing, and they remembered to mention him in their letters to their parents, who might be concerned.
Kaiser also switched tactics during the school year. He decided he needed to get to know his friends better, to cement their friendship. He focused a lot on Hannah Abbot and Susan Bones, who were widely liked in the Hufflepuff house. While he mainly did so because he wished they'd be useful to him, he had to admit they were good people from the many conversation they had. He sat with them some times during lunch or dinner time.
Though another petrification happened, people tended to forget them after a few weeks for god knew what reason. Perhaps it wasn't such a big deal after all? Wizards were some weird folk.
One day, while Kaiser sat at the Hufflepuff table, observing a very particular fifth year girl. He observed her for the past two days every time they entered the great hall, to the point where there were some rumors he had a crush on her. But the reason he did so was entirely different. The girl seemed to have shifts in behavior, sometimes she was twitchy, sometimes she moved in a mechanical way with occasional shudder. She was asked if she was okay a few times, but played it off as if nothing happened. Her eyes seemed unfocused at time, and it puzzled Kaiser. By the third day, his only thought was: 'something is differently wrong with her.'.
He decided to investigate, to use a skill he hoped he wouldn't have to use on anyone without a very good reason, but this situation clearly called for it. He took his wand in hand, and silently incanted.
'Legilimens.'
One has to know that Legilimency does not require eye on eye contact. As long as the eye was visible, a probe was possible. The only problem with this method is: if the person has minimal skill about Occlumency, he could push easily push you out of his mind, or counter attack, if skilled enough. But the situation called for it. What he noticed once inside her mind alarmed him greatly, as his hair and eyes flared crimson. He got up from his seat and pointed his wand at her.
"Stupefy!". A stunner found his way toward the girl in question, making her fall unconscious head first at the table. The Hufflepuffs all got up from their seats and drew their wands at him.
"What do you think you're doing?" Asked a Hufflepuff prefect angrily. Their house was one of unity, after all. But Kaiser was too angry to mind them, instead he turned to the professors rushing from the head table.
"Explain yourself, Mr. Lunar." Professor Flitwick, fortunately, did not jump into conclusions. He knew him well enough to know he wasn't the kind to throw spells at people, certainly not in front of such an audience.
"She needs to be taken to the infirmary, professor."
"Why do you think so?"
But Kaiser did not answer. Instead, he turned to a very suspicious professor Snape, looking him straight in the eyes, something he'd never done before, clearly telling him to read his mind. And professor Snape, took the cue and silently probed his mind, only for him to get alarmed as well.
"I agree with him, professor Flitwick. Good call, Mr. Lunar." Snape said, exchanging a look with his fellow professors, promising he'd explain later. The girl in question was levitated out, and a very angry Kaiser stormed out of the Great Hall, leaving hushed discussions behind, along with some very worried Hufflepuff students.
When the professor Sprout, Flitwick, McGonagall and Snape reached the infirmary, Snape placed his wand on the student's head. After a few seconds, his expression darkened and that worried them to no end.
"What in Merlin's name is going on, Severus?" asked a shaky professor McGonagall. She was terrified to hear the answer, especially not the one she's expecting.
"Imperius Curse."