It was a beautiful early Saturday morning, the sky was blue, and little fluffy clouds racing across the blue expanse accompanied by a warm autumn wind that still smelled of summer. Hale Hardmeat, a third-year Hufflepuff, was on his way from the Hufflepuff common room to the great hall for the most important meal of the day. Since the weather was agreeable he'd decided to take the path across the viaduct so that he could enjoy the sun and the smell of the lake. it always made him hungry, and that made the food taste even better.
He had taken this path many times during his three years at Hogwarts, at this exact time, something he was not alone in doing, of course. This day though, something was different. Something was... off. He stopped and looked around mystified, trying to find whatever it was that was bothering him. It wasn't until he realized that he was standing in the shadow. The viaduct was never cast in shadow at this time of day, he thought. Then he looked up, following the shadow. Not finding the source above him he turned and there it was, floating serenely in the air just off the viaduct. A tower that looked like it had been plucked from somewhere around Hogwarts and then just left hanging in the air.
Hale would be the first to agree that Hogwarts was on the odd side of things, what with its moving staircases, ghosts, and moving armors walking its halls. And that was not mentioning the odds and ends one could find in an unused room. it was like the one filled with nothing but broken wands. Why would anyone save the broken wands of students and pile them up in one of the rooms? But a tower floating over the bay? That was taking the cake.
As one might imagine it didn't take long for the other residents of Hogwarts to cotton on to the fact that something was up. Others of his house soon joined Hale on the viaduct to examine the new addition to the architecture, and it wasn't long before members of other houses joined them. And then the head of Gryffindor house, Minerva McGonagall made her appearance and the conversations going on between the various groups of people on the viaduct died a sudden death. The Misteress of Transfiguration took a long look at the floating tower before stalking off, most likely in the direction of the Headmaster's office.
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I can't say I was surprised to get a summons to go to the headmaster's office early Saturday morning. I had been expecting it with a certain degree of excitement. I wasn't surprised that they had immediately suspected me either, or more accurately, I wasn't surprised that Dumbledore suspected that it was me. He knew full well that I wasn't what I appeared to be. I honestly didn't know if he had shared that little fact with anyone else on staff, no one had mentioned anything, or treated me any differently than any of the other kids. Not that I'd ever given the teacher any reason to interact with me.
Until now that is.
The headmaster's office was little changed from my last visit here six years ago. The room still looked like a library had a kid with an art gallery, who then took up a hobby collecting little silver knickknacks. Don't get me wrong, I was digging the decore, it was my kind of place. The only thing it needed was some of the stuff I had in my room and it would be perfect. Well, I'd remove the portraits of the headmasters, those were just creepy. I'd try to convince Fawkes to stick around. He was in the office today, looking particularly regal. He must have had a burning day recently to have that level of vibrancy to his plumage.
Dumbledore was sitting behind his impressively ornate desk, doing some paperwork when I entered. He immediately looked up as I stepped into the room and gave me a grandfatherly smile. I guess he wasn't angry then, not that I expected him to be. The old man was a soft touch.
"Ah, Mr. Ahlgren." He said, rising halfway out of his seat to gesture me towards the chair that was situated in front of his desk. I wondered if it was the same that I'd occupied the first time I was here. "Come in, come in. Please, do have a seat. Lemon drop?" He asked and offered me a bowl filled with the yellow kernels.
I had to smile a bit at the familiar offer, though it was the first time he had offered it to me personally. I thought about it for a moment before shaking my head, "I think I'll pass, headmaster."
"Ah, more for me then." He said and picked up one of the yellow kernels and popped it into his mouth and nursed it for a moment before speaking. "Now, I trust you can guess as to the reason why you have been summoned this fine morning."
"I would not dare to presume, headmaster," I answered evasively with a smile.
"Albus, please." The headmaster requested.
My smile turned a bit cheeky, "I'll keep that in mind when I graduate, sir."
The headmaster chuckled as he leaned back in his chair and clasped his hands over his stomach and gave me a critical look. "In the past, particularly industrious students have been known to create the occasional room or secret passage for various reasons. In fact, it is my personal belief that most secret passages here at Hogwarts owe their existence to the students that have frequented her halls." He shared with me, looking a bit nostalgic before refocusing his attention on me again. "But I dare say that adding an entire tower to the castle, and a hovering one at that, is a first."
"Who says I did it?" I challenged. "I'm hardly the only one with a wand around here." I said, not that I'd used a wand to make the tower. I was way past needing one at this point.
Dumbledore chuckled good-naturedly, "Come now, Mr. Ahlgren, hardly anyone could have constructed a tower such as that, let alone make it airborne. No, that would take someone with a fair hand at enchanting along with extensive knowledge into spells used to work stone and metal. A subject that is not covered at length in regular classes."
"There is the after classes material," I suggested with a smile.
"That does indeed cover the metalworking portion of the endeavor, however, stonework of this scale is not covered in any of the after-school classes to my knowledge. And as I am indeed the Headmaster of this institution I am the man "in the know" as you youngsters like to say." Dumbledore refuted with a show of air quotes. That was a thing already?
"It could have been one of the staff," I suggested amusedly. I knew the game was up, but that didn't mean I couldn't have a bit of fun with it.
Dumbledore nodded thoughtfully, "Indeed. There are certainly those in our school that have the ability, but I dare say they lack the impetus to take such an action, a motive as it were."
I leaned back in my chair with a smirk. "And you believe I have a motive?"
"Ah, now that is the question of the hour, is it not?" He said, gesturing with a bony finger haphazardly. "If we were to suppose that you were the builder of this latest addition to our castle, what reason could you have for doing so?"
"Purely as a hypothetical?" I asked with a smile.
"If you want." Dumbledore allowed magnanimously.
I chuckled and shifted in my chair and crossed one leg over the other. "Perhaps whoever did it just wanted to build a tower..." I suggested languidly before letting an irreverent little smirk break across my face. "Then again, it might be meant as an inspiration."
"Inspiration?" He asked curiously.
"Yes. To show what one can truly accomplish with magic if you are willing to make the effort." I said as I raised my hands and cupped them in front of me and with a mere application of will, a ball of prismatic light burst into being between them, shining a rainbow of little lights throughout the office, like a magic disco ball. "Magic makes life so interesting. And yet, in a world so full of wonders wizards still manage to get bored with it."
I stood up and with a gesture, I sent the little rainbow ball to flit around the office like an excited dragonfly, or a snitch. Fawkes unexpectedly took that as an invitation and launched himself from his perch and started to chase after the little thing around the office, like a cat hunting a laser pointer. Me and Dumbledore looked on for a moment in a mixture of amusement and shock. I'd never expected to see the regal bird do something like that.
I shook my head with a chuckle. "See that, that's what I'm talking about. It's amazing what can happen, just like that! Yet, almost no one is. They'd look at it and shrug their shoulders and get on with their lives. Somehow, magic has become mundane, ordinary, no different than washing dishes or sweeping the floor!" I complained exasperated with the notion. "The greatest ambition of most of the kids here are no different than your average muggle child, which boils down to shooting each other in the face with magic, or getting power, fame, or money for the upper years."
"And you believe that they should aspire to something more?" Dumbledore suggested.
"Yes! Magic can do so much more than household chores! If only the people would care to put in a bit of effort!" I exclaimed passionately. There is so much potential, so much they could do!"
"Creating new spells is a hazardous endeavor, Mr, Ahlgren. I would say that most would see it as too dangerous to meddle with." Dumbledore said seriously. "It is a sentiment that is not without its merit."
I groaned irritably. "But that's is only if you are trying to make things from scratch! Something new. Just nudging preexisting charms to accentuate certain properties in the spell is entirely safe, just boring and very time-consuming."
"And as such it requires a great deal of patience, a trait that is often only learned through age and experience, Mr. Ahlgern." Dumbledore admonished gently. "I feel that you are putting too much of an expectation on your fellow students, they do not have the benefits that your unique situation affords you. Expecting them to act as if they do is to do them a disservice, I believe."
I glared at him indignantly, "I don't expect them to match me, give me some credit. But I'm not just talking about the student body, I see the same thing in the wizarding world as a whole." I sighed as I paced around the room. "I can't do anything about that, yet. But I think the present apathy I see in the student population is something that needs to go."
"And you believe this tower is something that will do that?" Dumbledore asked dubiously.
"On its own?" I asked with a snort. "Of course not. It's a start, a good start I think. It's big, it's visual, and it's sitting right outside the Great Hall where every student will see it every time they go to eat." I said with a satisfied smirk. "They will see it every day, and they will wonder; How did someone build that? What is keeping it up there? Why did they do it? They will ask questions! And that's how it starts. How, why, and what!" I growled out fiercely, geting a bit worked up at the end as I was reminded again that this sort of questioning was all but missing from the wizarding world. I quickly rained it in, or I'd start ranting, again!
"And who will answer those questions? You?" Dumbledore queried curiosuly.
"Me? Why would they come to me? I didn't do it." I told him with a smirk. "Answering questions is something teachers do."
"And if they cannot answer?" He asked.
I smirked at him. "Well, then things get interesting, don't they. People that are curious want's answers and they will go looking for them, sooner or later."
Dumbledore hummed thoughtfully, before leaning forward and resting his elbows on his desc and clasping them before him before resting his head against them, inadvertently assuming the Gendo pose. His eyes speared into me, seemingly looking right through me. I found it surprisingly intimidating and I reflexively shored up my mental defenses. "Indeed. A good start you said. You believe that our mysterious architect will have other things in store for us."
I shook off the momentary feeling of disquiet and crossed my arms over my chest and looked up at the ceiling. "If, hypothetically, it was me?"
"Of course." He allowed with a small wave of the hand.
"I wouldn't be too surprised. Probably not anything quite so.... big, at least not right now. There is more than one way to make someone curious, after all." I mussed out loud. I did have some ideas, Lys might have more still, I'd have to take the time to ask.
Dumbledore chuckled quietly for a moment before nodding in agreement, "That is indeed true." He agreed lightly before looking at me intently again. "However, this raises another question, in fact, it raises two; is this hypothetical person really so disappointed in the wizarding youth, and is this world truly as bad that it needs changing?"
I looked at him for a long moment before sighing, a sigh that transformed into a light chuckle midway through. "It's not even been a year since the muggles first set foot on the moon, nine years before that they put a man into space, and four years before that they launched their first artificial satellite. You know of some of what they will accomplish in the future from what I told you when I first arrived here. But that was only the tip of the tip of the iceberg. I genuinely believe that within the next two centuries they will set foot on Mars and even go beyond."
I laughed again, mostly to myself. "Don't you think it's ironic that a race of people that can make reality their bitch is overtaken by one that three centuries ago had barely figured out how to not set themselves on fire? Three hundred years! There are wizards now living that are twice that age! And we are walking around as if it's still the 1800's!"
"You believe we could be more?" Dumbledore asked.
"I know we can!" I shouted in exasperation. "I'm just a guy, no smarter than your average grunt of the streets and I have figured out tons of shit just screwing around after classes and during the weekends! And I'm not the only one, Lys built a freaking robot, a ROBOT!"
Dumbledore looked mystified. "What is a ro-bot?"
"Eh? Oh! Right! You wouldn't know..." I sighed in almost defeat. I suppose that illustrated my points better than anything. "You know what a golem is right." At his nod, I continued. "Think of it as something like that, only made up of clockwork."
Dumbledore still looked confused but nodded absently. I sighed and conjured an illusion that sowed Gond in all his polished glory. Dumbledores eyes visibly widened in surprise at the sight and he just stared at it for a few moments, slowly leaning forward to inspect it more closely, clearly astonished by the, quite frankly, amazing workmanship that had gone into the magical mechanoid.
"Amazing..." Dumbledore murmured in awe. "And you say that young Miss. Hreidmarsdottir made this. By herself?"
"Yup. Surprised the hell out of me when she dropped it in my lap." I shared with a fond smile as I recalled my first reaction to Gond.
"Remarkable... I... lack the words to... I had not realized that young Lys possessed such talent." He managed at last.
I snorted as I poked at one of the silver gadgets that Dumbledore had stored on his shelves. It puffed a cloud of lavender smelling smoke at me in return. "Lys has talent shooting out of every orifice she has. I suspect she's the smartest person in the school, she's smarter than me, that's for damn sure."
"Indeed?" He looked faintly surprised.
"Heck yeah!" I confirmed. "In fact, she inspired me when she came banging at my door to ask me how I learned how to fly."
Dumbledore nodded thoughtfully, "And you showed her?"
I smirked at him and generated another illusion that showed her and Gond flying through the air. "What do you think?"
"I do believe I'm starting to see the sequence of events that led us here today, Mr. Ahlgren," Dumbledore said with a chuckle.
I affected an innocent look. Butter wouldn't melt in my mouth, "And whatever could that be, Headmaster?"
"Oh, nothing, just the musings of a silly old man. Nothing important." Dumbledore said brightly, startling me with the sudden shift in mood. He clapped his hands once and smiled widely at me, "Well, I believe I have kept you from your much-deserved breakfast for long enough. Thank you for coming to see me despite the early hour. I will, of course, inform you should we find our mysterious architect. I'm sure you would have much to talk about." He said while his eyes twinkled madly.
Fawkes landed back on his perch, gave a happy little chirp followed by a loud fart that caused a colorful little fireworks display to shoot out of his butt. Me and Dumbledore watched the fiery bird in astonishment.
"Has he done that before?" I asked hesitantly
"He has not. As a matter of note, I have never seen Fawkes eat anything. This is most peculiar." He stated, looking at his familiar with undisguised fascination, he seemed to have almost forgotten I was there.?
"Okay..." I said hesitantly, wondering if the old man had finally cracked. "I'll just go then?"
Dumbledore nodded, not taking his eyes off his familiar.
"Okay then. See you later then, Headmaster." I said and made my way out of his office.
"My door is always open!" He called out after me.
I didn't answer in favor of running down the spiral staircase as fast as I could and out into the corridor beyond. The gargoyle quickly jumped to the side as I neared and then slid back into place once I had passed. Only then did I stop and turn around, looking up at the headmaster's office through one of the large windows that dotted the hallway. I shook my head ruefully.
"And they say I'm weird," I muttered to myself as I started the walk back to my rooms. "This place is cracked."