"That's hardly a trouble at all, rebellion is the natural state of a child is it not?" Madam Maxime said with a small laugh.
"Yes, children rebel against the order of things in order to discover where they fit within it. Why I remember I used to cause no end of trouble. Always going and stealing resources for my experiments and disregarding warnings to look for any knowledge that might teach me more." Flammel said with a nostalgic smile.
"That's interesting but what are we talking about exactly?" I asked a little lost.
"Ah, pardon me for getting a tad off topic. Young man are you aware that the various schools of the united confederacy of wizards have a student exchange program?" she asked seriously.
This threw me WAY off because, no, I did not in fact know that.
"Your surprise is well warranted. There is a set of conditions that needed to be fulfilled before an exchange could happen. The first is both headmasters of the schools involved must agree on the exchange. The second is the parents of the student must agree, though in your case that decision falls to you as an orphan. Third is the students must be able to fluently communicate in the native language of the other school. And finally the students must be academically excellent so as to not fall behind their peers upon returning to their home schools." Flammel explained softly.
I frowned at that "Those conditions..." I muttered and he nodded as if he knew what I was thinking.
"They seem reasonable but actually fulfilling them, well you can imagine the difficulty. In fact it's been a very long time since the last exchange took place, some sixty or so years I believe. That was that young woman from Mahoutokoro who did an exchange with Uagadou." Flammel said with a slight tilt of his head as he dredged up the memory.
"But why offer such a thing to me? I am not ungrateful but we only recently met for the first time." I asked confused.
"Why wouldn't I? You successfully infiltrated another school all by yourself, didn't panic even when caught and from what I can sense possess enough power to threaten even Dumbledore. If your academic scores are high enough I'd be more than pleased to host you for a year." Madam Maxime said with a smile.
I stiffened though "What do you mean about power?" I asked with a sinking feeling I wouldn't like the answer.
"You are in my domain. Monsieur Flammel has long since incorporated a threat assessment magic in the wards of the school. As Headmistress I naturally can access that information with but a thought. And you? You feel like a violent hurricane compressed into a small package, it's astounding in fact." she said seriously.
'A hurricane? Not inaccurate I suppose but definitely not at the upper limit of my fruit either.' I thought seriously.
"I would greatly appreciate if you didn't spread that knowledge. I have been quite careful to conceal exactly how much power I have after all. Not even Dumbledore should know though I suspect he might have an inkling." I said seriously.
She sighed "I don't know why you want to hide your obvious talent away when it should be celebrated but I will respect your desires on the matter. Now then your answer?" she asked.
"I would personally love to learn here for a time. I was actually thinking next year would be just right to look into alchemy anyways." I said honestly.
"Oh ho? Knowing Hogwarts standards you'd need at least third year understanding to even begin glimpsing the depths of that subject." Flammel said with an intrigued look.
"For most students that might be a high bar but I regularly read two separate books at the same time and not at a slow rate. Even my friends think my learning speed is inhuman. I've already started my forays into arithmancy, runes and third year texts on the main subjects. By my estimation I should have the theoretical mastery of the subject a fourth year would posses by the start of next years term." I said frankly.
"Can you prove any of that?" Madam Maxime asked with an interested look.
"I can." I say taking my spear out of my bandages and expanding it to the size of my wand.
"Do you mind if I examine that? Albus wrote to me on it but seeing it in person is entirely something else." Flammel asked with an eager almost manic expression.
"I wouldn't recommend it. It gets rather... reactive when someone who isn't me touches it." I warn firmly.
He nodded "Hardly surprising given it previous owner. The myths are quite clear on his jealousy." he said as he took out his wand again and began to pass it above the spear careful not to touch it.
It was a good thing too as I could feel the spear buzzing with threateningly high amounts of energy in warning, like a dog growling with teeth bared almost.
"What IS that!?" Madam Maxime asked in alarm at this display of raw power and aggression.
"The bolt of Zeus, supposedly. According to Albus it seems like it was found by a previous professor at Hogwarts and left forgotten and dormant there. Young Alex here found the room it was in and woke it up. Paid a high price for it's recognition too as you can see." Flammel said without looking away from the spear as he did whatever he was doing.
"Is that the source of what I spotted beneath those bandages and your eyepatch?" She asked in horror.
I nodded "It is, i'm looking into a solution for my nonfunctional eye still so that's merely a temporary issue. Not even one that effects me too terribly." I said assuringly.