Firelight and Foundations
January came in like a polite avalanche — steady, heavy, no apologies. Snow buried the greenhouses to their eyebrows, and icicles hung like punctuation from the eaves. Hogwarts, as usual, refused to notice that this sort of thing should be uncomfortable.
Corvus thrived on it. Winter was just the world practicing restraint.
Ravenclaw's eagle asked, "What goes up but never comes down?"
"Age," he said, tugging on gloves. "And sometimes wisdom, if we're lucky."
The door opened with amused approval.
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1. Quiet Revolutions
The school was still half-asleep from the holiday — students yawning their way through porridge, professors negotiating truce with their syllabi. Corvus watched the rhythm of the Hall like an engineer checking a bridge for weak points.
> 79. January Constraints: return logistics; magic fatigue; students readjusting to structure.
Action: reinforce routines, lower drama.
Madam Pince reported no library duels over the Flamel book (progress). McGonagall's note read:
> Mr. Black—
Your winter systems have prevented three accidents, two heartbreaks, and one first-year duel fought entirely with snowballs. Continue.
—M. McG.
He pinned it to his sleeve like a medal.
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2. Controlled Variables: Resolutions
The hidden classroom was warm enough to melt plans into being. The chalkboard read:
CV-016 — Warm Quarters
CV-017 — Prefect Diplomacy Program
Fred, George, Susan, and Daphne were there — the unofficial Committee for Civilized Mischief.
"Warm Quarters," Corvus explained, "is a self-adjusting charm network for common rooms. It balances firelight to occupancy — no more freezing edges or overheated hearths. Less bickering, fewer arguments disguised as climate control."
George raised a hand. "And we can tweak it to detect passive-aggressive sighs?"
"Not yet," Corvus said, "but I appreciate your vision."
Daphne added, "Prefect Diplomacy?"
Corvus chalked a diagram shaped like a dinner table. "We pair prefects from opposite houses once a month — shared patrol, shared tea, supervised by architecture. The castle records which routes calm the most staircases. Peace by pattern."
Fred grinned. "You're turning feuds into field studies."
"Exactly," Corvus said. "If they argue, the chairs will rotate them until they agree on something."
> 80. CV-016: thermal harmony network.
81. CV-017: cross-house patrol program (architecture-mediated).
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3. Practical Diplomacy (Test 1)
That evening, test pair: Daphne Greengrass (Slytherin) and Hannah Abbott (Hufflepuff).
Assignment: patrol third-floor corridor; report number of insults avoided.
"Do we get a medal?" Daphne asked.
"You get not having to hear Peeves rhyme your surnames together," Corvus said.
Halfway through the patrol, the castle cooperated — Night Lines glowed pale blue, stairs behaved, even portraits held commentary. The two girls returned forty minutes later, unscathed and slightly amused.
"Result?" Corvus asked.
Daphne: "No hostilities. One compliment on Hannah's hair. Peeves avoided us."
Hannah: "I think the stairs like her better than me."
Corvus noted: Success; stairs impartial but polite.
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4. Firelight Logistics
Warm Quarters launched that night. Tiny heat runes adjusted fireplaces by occupancy; flames dimmed when rooms emptied, brightened when laughter rose. The castle learned comfort like a new instrument.
In Ravenclaw Tower, Paradox yawned on the mantel and looked almost content. "Finally," she muttered. "The humans stopped experimenting with hypothermia."
Susan Bones, wrapped in a blanket, sighed happily. "It feels like the castle's hugging us."
"Don't get sentimental," Corvus said. "It's just efficient physics."
> 82. Warm Quarters: comfort index ↑; arguments ↓; blankets optional; cats smug.
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5. Snape, the Reluctant Data Point
Next morning in Potions, the classroom was oddly temperate — no chill creeping up the walls, no frost forming on pewter cauldrons.
Snape's eyebrow twitched once. "Black," he said.
"Yes, sir?"
"I presume you've… engineered the climate."
"Optimized," Corvus corrected.
Snape regarded him for a long beat. "Five points to Ravenclaw. For hubris, not achievement."
"Thank you," Corvus said sincerely.
Snape's mouth almost betrayed amusement before resuming austerity.
> 83. Data: even skepticism emits warmth when politely addressed.
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6. Frost Letters
At dusk, Corvus found a note on the window, written by frost itself:
FOUNDATION.
The letters shimmered, then dissolved before he could answer.
He understood. Systems were infrastructure; feelings were mortar.
He set the coin and locket side by side on the sill, two moons of equal gravity.
> 84. Doctrine (early year):
Winter sustains structure.
Peace can be designed.
Foundations are quieter than victories.
The lake outside mirrored the moon with military precision. Inside, Ravenclaw's hearth hummed to the rhythm of a castle that liked being civilized.
Corvus watched frost rebuild its handwriting, one letter at a time, until it shaped a single word:
Soon.
He nodded to it — acknowledgment, not surrender.
Then he turned down his lamp, trusting his systems to keep the night orderly.
Evening stacked itself on the castle like neat bricks. Wind tested the leaded panes, failed politely, tried again. January approves of persistence.
Warm Quarters took the chill the way a good sentence takes a comma—absorbed, improved. Fires breathed like disciplined lungs. Paradox sprawled on Ravenclaw's mantel in an elegant comma of cat.
> 85. Stress test: blizzard pressure; occupancy spikes; owls grumpy.
Goal: keep heat where people are; keep people where sense is.
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1) Chimneys Behave, People Follow
A downdraft sulked through Gryffindor Tower—smoke nosed in like gossip. Corvus walked the problem instead of glaring at it. Warm Quarters adjusted, but the flues wanted choreography, not volume.
McGonagall met him at the portrait hole with a look that could iron shirts. "Report."
"Your hearth is proud; your chimney is jealous," Corvus said. "We'll mediate."
He sketched a lattice in the air—small, firm, mostly manners.
CV-018 — Chimney Accord
Shares draw across house flues during pressure dips
Prefers rooms with cold children and bad essays
Forbids smoke from practicing drama indoors
He tapped three mantels (Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw). Slytherin, stubborn underground, consented only after Daphne owl'd "We are not barbarians."
The smoke retreated, chastened. Heat redistributed itself like a responsible committee.
> 86. CV-018 live: backdrafts → 0; temp wobble ↓; coughs spared; portraits less rude.
McGonagall's mouth conceded one molecule of a smile. "Acceptable."
"I live to disappoint smoke," Corvus said.
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2) Prefect Diplomacy Actually Diplomas
Test two for CV-017—Prefect Diplomacy Program: Percy Weasley (Gryffindor) and Tracey Davis (Slytherin). Venue: a classroom the castle had set to "amiable."
Chairs rotated whenever the conversation turned to ancestor crimes. Teapot refilled when someone said however.
Percy arrived in full ministerial rehearsal. Tracey arrived as an audit in boots. Corvus set the rules: shared patrol, one compliment per landing, note three things the other house actually does well.
They returned forty minutes later with a map annotated "least dramatic routes" and a mutually signed memo:
G stair avoids bottleneck if praised at the newel
Peeves responds to accusations of 'derivative curvature'
Slytherin first-years follow "This way to tea" faster than "Detention this way"
Tracey arched an eyebrow. "Slytherins prefer invitations to threats."
Percy adjusted his prefect badge. "Noted."
Corvus logged: Tone is infrastructure.
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3) Snape's Weather Report (With Pomfrey)
In Potions, Snape's room held a temperate competence rare as flobberworms being useful. No frost climbed pewter; no summer drowned the back row.
Snape regarded Corvus like a thermometer he resented needing. "Warm Quarters has… reduced whinging."
"Systems reduce poetry," Corvus said, then added, "of the wrong sort."
Madam Pomfrey swept through with a clipboard like winter's attorney. "Colds down. Fevers shorter. Whoever taught the chimneys to share can live." She pivoted, already done with gratitude. "Do not over-optimise. Bodies and castles like some fluctuation."
"Oscillation builds resilience," Corvus agreed.
Snape's mouth made the shape of a laugh in a different life. "Five points to Ravenclaw," he said, "for speaking Pomfrey."
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4) Peeves Attempts Performance Art
Peeves decided soot was a medium. He swanned toward Ravenclaw's hearth with a bucket and an aria.
"Peeves," Corvus called, "the trophies said your chiaroscuro lacks thesis."
"Lacks—THESIS?" Peeves screeched, and detonated toward brass and outrage. A distant clang suggested a suit of armor had discovered avant-garde.
Warm Quarters hummed on, untroubled. Paradox didn't even lift her head.
> 87. Poltergeist management: redirect via conceptual insult; save soot for electives.
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5) The Quiet Audit
At Pince's desk the first Restricted Reading Appointment forms arrived—Hermione's in tidy fervor, another from a nervous Hufflepuff seeking counter-hex history. Pince stamped each with a severity that read as love if you spoke library.
Index Thread glowed discreetly above the catalog, nudging hands to biography before forbidden. Harry learned the weight of supervision without feeling caged. Ron learned quills behave better if you don't threaten them.
> 88. RRA: permission beats prerogative; accidents averted by paperwork (the noblest magic).
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6) Stones With Memory
On his late loop, Corvus paused at the grand stair and said, simple as bread, "Thank you for today."
The banister hummed back—a contented note, lower than pride, warmer than smug. Stone keeps ledgers. Praise is the currency.
Snape passed at that exact syllable and didn't quite hide his approval. "Imagine more slowly," he murmured, habit and benediction.
"I am building patience into the floorboards," Corvus said.
"Then walk on them," Snape replied, and was weather again.
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7) Foundation
Ravenclaw's knocker asked, "What building has the most stories?"
"A library," Corvus said, and the door opened like agreement wearing spectacles.
On the sill: coin and locket, twin planets with their own weather. He placed them side by side and didn't open either. Kept doors hold roofs up.
Frost wrote in a tidy hand:
FOUNDATION LAID.
Under it, smaller, with a little flourish: Raise walls. Leave windows.
He smiled into the pane. "We're not building a fortress," he told the glass. "We're building a house that can host storms."
Paradox, from the mantel, issued a tiny approving trill that pretended to be a yawn.
Mystery Log:
> 89. Deliverables (Foundations Week):
– CV-018 Chimney Accord live: shared draw; smoke drama ↓; comfort ↑.
– CV-017 Prefect Diplomacy: Percy/Tracey pilot → map of least-dramatic routes; tone guidelines drafted.
– Warm Quarters stable under blizzard; Pomfrey satisfied (historic).
– Peeves redirected to brass; soot spared; portraits less insufferable.
– RRA pipeline functioning; Index Thread steering seekers to safe paths.
89a. Doctrine: Foundations are systems + tone. Praise is maintenance. Invitations outperform threats. Patience can be installed.
He doused the lamp. The castle, pleased to be treated like a partner instead of a puzzle box, settled its old bones. Somewhere under stone, a wrong harmony remembered it was outnumbered by good habits. Somewhere above, snow wrote quiet on the roofs.
"Steady," Corvus said.
The coin warmed once. The locket held its pressed star like a pilot light. And Hogwarts—civilized, watchful, fond of manners—kept the night.