Chapter 12: Chapter 12 - The last lesson on wizarding common sense
Another two weeks later on Saturday, February 12th, Ash stepped into his classroom together with the students. There were a few more students yet again from the second years.
"Alright, welcome all of you for our last lesson on wizarding common sense. It will be shorter, but no less important than the other lessons. We'll be done before lunch, so we should all be able to watch the Quidditch match today."
Ash went behind his desk in the middle of the room and grabbed a large tome from underneath. It looked worn and not at all magical like the family grimoire he showed them last time.
"This right here is the latest edition of 'Wizarding Laws in Magical Britain: A brief outlook of what separates us from animals' written by Leopold Hatchins. In the short few centuries that our Ministry was formed, a total of 177 articles and 1477 laws have been passed along with 2821 regulatory texts," Ash explained as the students looked overwhelmed at the number.
"Ever since the first law book was ratified, 13 articles have been rescinded, 83 laws either amended or removed and 412 regulatory texts amended or entirely struck from record. And it is a sad reality, that none of the laws that favored 'pure-bloods' are among them."
Ash released a sigh.
"The Ministry technically has no real power over what laws are in effect, though to a degree they and the DMLE are responsible of enforcing them. The High Court is responsible for sentencing, which would mean we have a division of powers as the non-magical world has, but the reality is a bit different."
With a wave of his wand, Ash illuminated the class room with three triangles and began his explanation anew.
"Laws are passed in the so-called Wizengamot. But they hold much more power than that. By naming the Minister of Magic and the judges on the high court, they own the Ministry to some degree," Ash explained as he shook his head.
"Before the Ministry was created, Magical Britain had 3 councils of varying strength and numbers that were made up of alliances of various magical families."
He looked around. Some of the students were captivated, while some started to look a little bored.
"No worries, this is no history lesson, and there won't be an exam later on," Ash assured his students with a chuckle. He waved his hand, the triangles moved together to form a half circle.
"So anyway, these three councils came together for various reasons, nobody wanted to lose power so we have 77 seats, most of which are forever bound to a blood line and together they form the Wizengamot."
"Now, this body of 77 seats in the hands of 'pure-bloods' are wholly responsible for every law in our country. Sure, they cannot go overboard lest their excessive actions form a revolt. But I still have many not so favorable opinions about their glaring shortcomings. Most of which are never reported on, because the ministry essentially owns the Daily Prophet," Ash for the first ever in a classroom completely lost his sunny smile. It was a light frown, but to the first years, it looked like he was outright scowling.
"Like any social environment, the Wizengamot too gathered in factions eventually. We call them the light, the grey and the dark," he said as the half circle lit up in three different colors.
"The light faction is led by our very own headmaster, Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot Albus Dumbledore. My family and I are not very political, but personally, I think they are too passive and get walked over by the cunning of the dark faction too often." The white tile of the half circle lit up.
"The grey faction acts and advertises itself as the 'neutral' faction, and is it mostly comprised of business savvy leaders. They seek to gain as many advantages to them and the economy as possible. Thankfully, their leaders mostly favor long-term benefits, otherwise this country would have long gone up in flames. They are opportunists through and through." A second grey tile lit up on the half circle.
"And then we have the dark faction. Their most defining trait is their collective belief in traditions, honoring magic... that's what I would like to say, but in the past 80 years, helped by the emergence of Grindelwald and Voldemort, their views were eventually twisted. Nowadays, they still 'fight for our traditions', but it is clear for anyone who wants to look that their motives are based around bigotry."
Ash had clear disdain lacing his voice but soon reigned it in as he lit up the last third of the half circle.
"Sorry for that, this was supposed to not be political," Ash said as he calmed himself down. His recent travels showed him just how backwards this countries' politics truly were and put many things into perspective.
He would still much rather teach than be a politician, so he would have to make do with inspiring people to think for themselves, and through his students, he would change Magical Britain's way of thinking.
He knew his shortcomings too, though. His little speech just now was either just demotivating or it would rile them up against the 'ruling class'. And what good would that do? First year first generation magicals versus families with comparably unending wealth and power?
No, Ash would need to find a way to make people think for themselves and through smart political maneuvering wrestle some power for themselves. They needed smart actions and not thoughtless reactions.
Anything else would just end in bloodshed and even more oppression.
In his musings, Ash didn't notice that he was silent for a good minute.
Astoria sitting in the first row lifted her hand and cautiously spoke up, "uhm, Professor, are you okay?"
"Ah yes, sorry everyone. We can't change how politics work in two to three hours from inside this classroom by talking to ourselves, so let us talk about what you can expect and what you can watch out for."
Ash started by introducing them to various possible jobs, what they would need to know to excel at the jobs. This part of the lesson was supposed to give them something to strive towards. During that explanation he subtly talked about the ICW and how other international magical countries are run to give the students a comparison.
Afterwards, Ash talked about apprenticeships for the 'harder' jobs and how they would help with backing and political power.
Then, as the last part, he talked about guilds, "alright onto our last part today, guilds. Guilds are what you expect them to be when you hear the name. Like-minded individuals, coming together to achieve more than by their lonesome by pooling together knowledge and resources."
Ash took out a badge from his coat pocket and tapped on it with his wand. The badge showing a miniature golden cauldron with an equally small wand used as a ladle came to life and began to stir the contents of the cauldron.
For a two-dimensional badge a little smaller than a palm and not even a quarter as thick, it looked strangely realistic.
"This right here is my identification as a member of the Potioneer's Guild. The golden cauldron shows that I achieved the second highest rank possible, potion's master. After that, I could only become a potion's grandmaster and join the exalted potioneering council, like my master Griselda the Feisty."
"Not every guild works the same, but most have different ranks, which offer different kinds of advantages and opportunities. They, too, have politics and factions squabbling like little children, but most of the time, reason wins over emotion and greed in these fights. This is helped by the fact that every recognized guild out there has members from many different countries," Ash explained as he conjured a map of the world.
Several countries lit up one by one, some in blue, some in green, with Italy shining brightest in green.
"These countries all have active members from the Potioneer's Guild. The countries shining blue have their own branch, an institution with various responsibilities, from helping its members with the acquisition of knowledge and ingredients to inducting new members. The green countries are those that have an active potion's grandmaster leading a branch and more often than not, these grandmasters help with reviewing research that is about to be published and sometimes even lead seminars to further a branch's understanding of potions."
Melody, one of the first year Ravenclaws raised her hand.
"Yes, Melody," Ash called her.
"Why is Italy shining brighter than the rest?"
"Good eye, Italy is the current headquarters and houses the meetings of the potioneering council. There are currently six grandmasters residing in Italy."
Another student from Gryffindor raised his hand.
"Yes, Roland?"
"I think during the welcome feast the headmaster mentioned you visited Italy after graduation and before coming here, is that why you went there?"
"You remember that? Haha yes, I visited the headquarters with my master and was officially inducted into the ranks of potion master at that time. I could have stayed in Britain for that, but going over hastened the process and came with many other opportunities," Ash explained as he scratched his head.
"Frederic?"
Another young Gryffindor sitting next to Roland began to ask his question. "Can you join the Potioneer's Guild without connections? Or how do you even join a guild?"
"Hmm, there are a few ways to enter a guild. Becoming an apprentice to a master is often the most surefire way. It comes with a faster advancement speed, too, among other benefits. However, it is not the only way," Ash explained.
"You could take part in competitions. Winning would ensure that you get approached by a respective guild. I know for example the Dueling Guild mostly recruits through competitions, as not even apprentices get an easy time getting inducted into the guild," Ash said as he summoned the emblem of the Dueling Guild, two crossed wands over an ornate kite shield.
"There's also the Tailor's Gathering, a guild for those that craft clothing and protective armors. Madam Malkin from Diagon Alley is at the rank of a grandmaster in that guild and she would introduce people to the guild if they impress her with designs or new charms to put on clothes. The current headquarters of the gathering is as you would expect in Paris by the way."
A few students chuckled at that, but those raised in the magical world didn't get why that was to be expected. Ash offered no explanation though, because truly, it wasn't very important.
The Tailor's Gathering emblem appeared next to the Dueling Guild's, it was a yarn ball with two long needles stuck through in an X form. Ash explained that their emblem changes every five years by popular vote from the highest ranking members.
Ash continued introducing a few guilds and how to best approach them for another half an hour. Among them were guilds for enchanters, herbalists, seers and weirdly enough there even existed a guild solely for quidditch keepers. No other quidditch position had a guild.
He also mentioned, though with less intensity than his little outburst at the start, that the dark faction of the Wizengamot actively tried to undermine the guilds because they introduce 'dangerous ideas', though what they really disliked was that they couldn't be controlled and gave power even to the 'impure'.
When it was time for lunch to start in 20 minutes, Ash was done with answering questions and released the students. A few of them came forward and thanked him for the time he took to introduce them to the wizarding world.
Even six months into Hogwarts, none of the first generation magicals had even heard of Guilds, which should be shocking. Sadly, Ash knew the truth.
The dark faction was and is a big part of the board of Hogwarts and had, through some inconsequential concessions on their part, effectively forbidden the guilds to approach students in Magical Britain. Additionally, the professors weren't politically motivated in large parts, hence why nobody felt the need to introduce such an important resource.
Ash knew he was treading on thin ice doing exactly that, but he read the regulations and knew what he could and couldn't do. Sure, he made enemies that way, but people that would get offended would never be among his friends and supporters anyway. It was all a matter of pacing so that he would not gain too much infamy at once.
After lunch, Ash joined his fellow professors out to the quidditch field and watched Gryffindor win their third match with Harry catching the snitch yet again. He really was a good seeker.
A few hours later just around 1am, Ash was sitting in his study, taking notes while reading a book on healing the mind. It was a translated edition he bought during his time in Japan.
Suddenly, an ethereal white cat flew next to him. He heard Minerva's voice whisper for him to come to the Gryffindor tower.
Quickly turning into his animagus form, Ash flew towards the tower. On his way, he briefly saw the tail of a rat scurrying behind a cabinet on the third floor but paid it no further notice.
He arrived in front of the Gryffindor dorm entrance, the portait wide open and stepped through. All Gryffindor students were there in their pajamas, including Minerva who wore a modest, thick woolen robe over her nightwear.
She told him to wait for the headmaster to arrive and once he did, the three went up the boys dorm stairs together with Harry and Ron.
As they looked around, they soon noticed one of the beds and the curtains on both windows next to it were shredded with claw marks. Some would guess it was the work of a bear or similar sized wild animal.
Dumbledore and Minerva discussed some things with Harry and Ron and then themselves. It took so long that Ash was beginning to wonder why he was called.
"Ash, the students are all shaken and likely unable to sleep after this second attack on their dorms. Would you be a dear and look if you have anything in your inventory to calm their nerves?" Minerva asked him with a gentle but concerned smile once Dumbledore took his leave.
Quickly weighing his options, Ash thought of something and told Minerva that he was going to get it from his personal study. As he made his way down, the headmaster was addressing the students to calm them down, assuring them that he would personally strengthen any and all defenses.
After a quick flight in animagus form, Ash returned with a bag filled with incense sticks a few minutes later. With his considerable wealth, he bought out as much of these sticks as he could. Not just to hopefully cure his aunt of her spell damage induced coma, but also to study its properties and research their effect on the mind.
Dumbledore was already gone once he arrived, so he walked next to Minerva to explain his plan. With some reassuring words and efforts to distract them with different light-hearted conversational topics like quidditch and other hobbies, the two professors eventually ushered the students back into their beds.
Minerva put up the incense on the girl's side, while Ash got to work on the boy's side. He stayed a bit longer with the younger students and even waited until the first years were asleep. So when he was done, he went back to the common room and found Minerva waiting for him.
She went towards him and shot him a grateful look. She patted his shoulder and said, "thank you for this Ash. I'd worry endlessly if I had just sent my lion cubs back to bed like this."
"No worries, it's what I should do as a professor," Ash said with a nod as he patted her hand on his shoulder reassuringly.
"Still, this won't change the fact that something or someone was able to break in twice. I'm not much of a detective so I'll leave figuring it out to you and the headmaster," Ash quipped to lighten the mood. A terrible attempt he soon noticed when he recounted his words in his sleepy mind.
"Haaa, got another incense stick for this old lady?" Minerva sighed with a self-depreciating chuckle.
"Sure I do. By the way, I know the board still hasn't given its okay for the student hot spring, but how about tomorrow after lunch we allow the girls entry for 2 hours under supervision and an hour later the boys get 2 hours? I've read the bylaws and regulations that forbid us from opening it fully if both sides are opened simultaneously, but like this there is no reasoning against it. It would probably help distract the students from this incident," Ash offered.
Minerva thought about it for a moment before giving Ash another grateful nod.
"Thanks Ash, I'll announce it at breakfast. That really should pacify their worries a little."
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Nuclide
Nuclide Would have written more, but I read some comics and thought up a story of a certain character from Thor that should have been a part of the MCU and how their influence could change the plot, even if they are not part of the MCU movie plots. You know, death before the Iron Man plot starts the MCU.
Turns out I thought of a secret baby, a mother dying and a teenager saving New York in the first arc. Was really fun to write, but this time I'll probably write a few arcs before I put it on here.
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