“That was absolutely insane. Have you seen Malfoy’s face?" said Ron with a grin that was so great that it looked like he had won the lottery.
“Yeah, I have. Do you think the things Professor Ward said about his father are true?” answered Harry.
“They probably are. But I am much more interested if what he said about the wizard gene is true.” Atlas mused. The books and movies hadn’t mentioned anything about it, and after having seen Professor Ward’s class, he was sure that in the original, another teacher taught the class. There was no way that something like that wouldn’t be mentioned otherwise. But this time he at least knew who was responsible for the change: Dumbledore. The professor quite plainly told the class that Dumbledore extorted him, which should anger the old manipulator to no end.
“Who cares about that? We are all wizards, so nothing would change, wouldn’t it?” said Ron, still with a blissful smile.
“Ron,” said Atlas trying to stay calm at Rons ignorance, "it would change everything. The whole wizard society is built around pureblood families. That is partially because most of them have a long heritage and are quite connected within the community; it is also because most are quite rich. But the most important factor is that muggleborn wizards are suppressed because it is believed that they are less valuable, less able, and weaker than members of pureblood families. This research would have changed that, as it would have proven that as long as one is able to use magic, everyone has a similar potential. With a bit of research, it would even be possible to make sure that everyone should be able to use magic.”
“If that knowledge was public at the time of the war, Voldemort wouldn’t have gotten even half as many followers. So yes Ron, it is important.” explained Atlas.
The rest of them, especially Dean and Seamus, who were half-bloods, nodded their heads. Hermione wasn’t long enough in the wizarding society to have experienced the darker sides of this world, and she just listened with a frown. She had read a few history books, but reading something and really comprehending it are two different things.
“Why do you think that Dumbledore wanted Professor Ward at Hogwarts? Professor Ward didn’t seem like a guy who would mention something like being extorted to teach as a joke.” asked Atlas in the round.
“Dumbledore is nuts. Don’t waste your time trying to understand that old geezer.” Said Ron, causing the rest of the group to roll their eyes.
“Maybe, the old Professor retired or something like that. It’s not unusual for professors to retire because of old age, if you don’t take the professors for defence against the dark arts into consideration.” said Seamus.
“No, that can’t be it. Dumbledore wouldn’t extort someone that has already retired to fill a post, that is empty because someone else retired.” answered Atlas.
“Maybe he needs the professor's expertise on something else? The Professor is almost as old as Dumbledore and has fought in wars and worked as a researcher. So, maybe he can do some things that Dumbledore can’t.” said Hermione.
“Yeah, that is what I thought too, but what would be so important that Dumbledore didn’t care about his relationship with him?” asked Atlas but didn’t expect to get any helpful answers. At first, he thought that the Professor should help Dumbledore protect the philosopher’s stone, but in the original story, Dumbledore wanted Harry to fight Quirrel at the end of the year, or Harry wouldn’t have been able to reach the Mirror of Erised even with all the luck in the world. The tasks were intentionally doable by anyone with only a minor accomplishment in magic. Flitwick’s task was the most prominent in that regard, as the task was practically designed for Harry.
“Maybe he wants to lead a war. Like I said, Dumbledore is nuts, or do I need to remind you of a certain three-headed dog?” said Ron, a bit annoyed that the others were far too serious and didn’t want to celebrate Malfoy’s misfortune with him.
The mood plummeted further, but no one really wanted to argue about it anymore, and Atlas had to admit that preparing a war was indeed a possibility. Maybe Dumbledore was scared because Voldemort behaved differently than he expected, so he added a few precautions, to make sure that nothing bad happened.
The group made their way to the library to complete their homework. Atlas always insisted on doing the homework as soon as possible, which became a habit for the whole group, even though they invested differing amounts of actual work into it.
Hermione and Atlas sat as far away from Ron as possible, and when Ethan’s group arrived, Hermione went over to them. Atlas helped Harry and Neville with their homework, which caused Ron to rant again. Atlas explained to him that while he had apologized for cursing him, that did not mean he was obligated to help him and that it would be better for Ron if he actually invested some time on his own if he didn’t want to repeat the class. After he finished that, he also went over to Ethan’s group.
Atlas spent the next few days in a similar fashion, but he tried to study as much as possible with Hermione, Ethan, Leona, and Amy. He didn’t really want to invest much time in the others, but in case there was a final fight at the end of the year with Quirrel like in the original, he didn’t want Harry to be completely useless. At the moment, he also didn’t plan to participate in the whole philosopher’s stone business, as the death of Cerdric Digory had shown him that Voldemort had no problem killing bystanders. So as long as he gave Harry the solution to Snape’s riddle beforehand and emphasized that devil snares are vulnerable to sunlight, he should be fine. To make it idiot-proof he would also hammer into Harry’s head that sunlight could be summoned with lumos solem.
The other noteworthy thing that happened until the weekend was that Professor Flitwick started to teach them the spell Lumos. Atlas directly asked the Professor after class why he changed the order in which he taught the spells, as the book started with lumos and nox and wingardium leviosa was only the fourth spell they should learn. The professor explained that someone brought to his attention that one could capture the attentions of the students better if one taught something flashier first. Atlas ignored the professor's chuckle at his own wordplay and asked who told him that. It turned out that it was Professor Quirrel who gave him the advice.
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When the weekend came, Atlas had his first personal lesson with Professor McGonagall. When he arrived, they first started with a cup of tea while the professor quizzed him about the things he should catch up on. Atlas could say with confidence that he was absolutely sure that he impressed the old witch, as he went far beyond what she requested. Most of his time studying with Ethan’s group was spent on personal projects with them and not on any assignments. While he learned a lot about other topics too, as they presented their findings to each other quite regularly, his main focus was on transfiguration. Leona even joined him in his research after he told her that if one was able to transfigure something into a living creature, one would be able to use the spell oppugno to make said creature attack. He knew the spell from the movies, but he recently found it in one of the books in the library. Without it, studying transfiguration would be an inefficient way to gain power, unless he became so good at it that he could transfigure someone into an animal like Moody, or, to be more accurate, Barty Crouch did to Malfoy.
Professor McGonagall was so pleased with his progress that she freed him from all future transfiguration homework, but expected that he always did the personal assignments she gave him on time. She has more than once mentioned that he should not rest on his laurels and keep working hard.
Atlas was on his way back to the common room when he heard loud voices behind him. He turned around and saw Fred and George Weasley walking towards him with broad smiles on their faces. Before he could ask what they were up to, they took him into a secluded corner of the castle to talk to him.
“Hey Atlas, you remember that we asked you to help us with some Halloween preparations? The plan shifted a little, as we already got what we initially wanted to ask you to get. So, we have a new request. We heard that you are quite good in potions. We would like an extra hand in brewing large amounts of a certain potion. Do you think you can help us?” asked Fred.
“If I’m able to brew it, I don’t see a problem in it. But you get the ingredients. What Potion are we talking about?” asked Atlas, already knowing to expect something good.
“Ohh, you should be able to brew the potion. It’s not like the potion is difficult, we just need a huge amount of it and a helping hand would be nice.” answered Fred with a grin that showed that the potion was definitely not allowed in Hogwarts.
“Just spit it out. What potion is it. It’s not like I would run to a professor and snitch on you even if I would not brew the potion for you.” demanded Atlas, a bit annoyed but also amused at their antics.
“But it would take the surprise away, though you'll find out eventually either way. We're making love potions - a big batch of them! A really big batch!” George waved his arms around to illustrate how massive this endeavor would be.
Atlas was confused. What did they want with love potions? He asked himself if they wanted to have a large orgie instead of a great feast on Halloween before asking them directly. “What do you need that many potions for? What have you planned? And more importantly, I hope you don’t expect me to brew you armortensia, that potion is far from easy and even further away from harmless. And if we are talking about the quantities, which I think you are talking about, then I’m absolutely sure that Madam Pomfrey does not have enough antidotes, and you could cause serious problems. I hope you take that into consideration when you plan your “surprise”.” said Atlas.
“We don’t want to get thrown out of Hogwarts if something goes wrong. We aren’t stupid. The potion we want to brew only lasts a few hours at most. So, are you in?” asked Fred, judging if it was a mistake to ask Atlas.
“No, it’s fine, as long as I only need to brew, and you promise not to use it on me, it’s fine. Now tell me what you have planned?” asked Atlas, a bit curious.
“Good. Then we will meet every Sunday after lunch to brew. Fred and I have found the perfect location to brew without anyone disturbing us. What we do with the potions is a little surprise, but we promise that it won’t affect you.” said George.
Atlas soon learned that this perfect location was Myrtle’s bathroom. While Myrtle’s crying could be annoying, Atlas's main problem was that the bathroom was the entrance to the chamber of secrets. He was sure that the Basilisk would sleep unless someone opened the chamber, but he couldn’t help but be nervous in the bathroom. It didn’t help that in every toilet stood a cauldron that was used to brew a batch of love potion. The final ingredient was always something from the person the target should fall in love with, but the twins made sure to keep the target or targets a secret from Atlas. Atlas thought back to the movies and just hoped that the twins didn’t collect cat hairs from someone’s cape like Hermione did when she brewed the Polyjuice potion.
After that, a more or less regular routine began for Atlas. He would spend most of his time studying. Most of the time, he would do the homework with Harry and Neville and study with Hermione and Ethan’s group. Atlas attempted to combine the two groups, but Ethan was quite clear that he didn’t want to waste his time with people who didn’t appreciate magic the way the rest of his group did. Atlas understood that sentiment, but it still annoyed him a bit as it was inconvenient for him. He also used a lot of his spare time to train in the room of requirement, where the greatest hurdle seemed to be Hermione as the two spent most of their spare time together. It got increasingly difficult to keep it a secret, which led him to only train early in the morning before classes began.
The only irregularity in the coming weeks was that Harry persuaded him to watch one of his Quidditch trainings. His lack of enthusiasm for the sport seemed to have affected Hermione, but she still decided to tag along and watch one training session. The two of them spent most of their spare time together, and sometimes Neville tagged along, as he didn’t seem to fit in with the others very well. Neville's improvement was still quite great. He was far less scared of anything, and his progress in everything except potions was far better than it should be. The only person who experienced a greater change was Hermione. She seemed to have learned that being a know-it-all could annoy some people. It amused Atlas endlessly when he saw that she wanted to correct someone in class but forced herself to hold back. Despite his amusement, Atlas tried to explain to her that helping people wasn’t a bad thing. When he explained that it was important how she interrupted someone if she wanted to help them, which led to them spending a lot of time in the common room to train imaginary scenarios where she needed to help him. For Atlas, it was pure fun to help her with that, as Hermione, despite her brilliance in studying, seemed to be unable to grasp something so simple. That didn’t mean she didn’t get better, but compared to learning a complicated potion, this was ten times more difficult for her.
Atlas didn’t know if it was because Hermione had someone to study with, but her progress in all subjects was astonishing, even by her standards. It was as if she learned at least twice as fast as in the original. When Atlas realized it, he was shocked for a short moment that there was a possibility of her being the hero, but he thought that while it was not impossible, it was highly unlikely that the hero was so similar to Hermione in the movies and that she would take Ron's comments to heart like that.