Disclaimer - I don't own anything. As the corporations say these days, you will own nothing & be happy. I don't, and have never claimed to, own Marvel or Disney or any of its characters. With that out of the way, let's goooo!
Hogwarts
–Damian Hawthorne–
It was still early, so even by the time he finished his breakfast, he hadn't seen any students yet. That was a little surprising, to be honest. He expected at least one of the hundreds of students here to get a head start on their day, get breakfast done early so they could do something else, or were they up early and just chose to have their breakfast with their friends?
He couldn't know. What he did know, however, was that when he was done with his food, wherein he spent a significant time tasting everything slowly and trying to analyse the magic inside it to see what was different about it, only to find nothing more than a higher concentration of magic compared to the ambient magic.
Now, that alone would not have been eye-raising in any way, but that was because the ambient magic amount in question was inside Hogwarts, a magical beacon of sorts, with so much magic present everywhere that the food was basically magic at this point. He wondered if they used actual magical ingredients, or was it just the side effect of the ingredients growing in a magic-rich environment, or was it something the Elves did instinctively that created such food?
Safe to say, he had a lot of time on his hands, to spend almost an hour, just slowly tasting the food to do an experiment the old fashioned way. Reading through his observations in his notebook, he nodded and, after closing it, placed it back in his backpack. He had to admit, the old fashioned method of tinkering and data collection had its charm, even with the advanced note-taking tools he had access to.
Computers here were far more advanced than he expected them to be, even before he used magic to essentially magic away some of the more fundamental issues, like screen glare, flickering, heat dissipation, cooling and even size as the lack of air/water flow allowed him to essentially cram everything into a footprint smaller than a laptop, while retaining desktop level performance.
The chassis just acted as a thermal absorption chamber, siphoning off all the heat and converting it to light as the shell glowed according to how much heat the computer produced. It is something he intended to keep as an antique even if the computer itself became outdated in a couple of years.
Shaking his head, he looked up from the food that were soon cleaned out by the Elves and sighed in disappointment as he saw no one but him in the entirety of the Hall. It was…boring.
So so boring!
He had no idea what to do. They were told the timetable for the day would be given to them during or before breakfast by their prefects, so all the students had to do was get acclimated with their dorms, make friends, and then show up to breakfast in their uniforms. No requirements either. No stationery required as everything would be provided during their first class, with maybe the exception of the Cauldrons, but that was all dependent on the timetable, which he had not received yet.
So, there he was, sitting at his house's table, already full of food, with no fellow students, no faculty, no one in sight. He had never been so bored before, with magic just a thought away and yet, out of reach as he had to pretend to be a regular student instead of a monster capable of knocking out most wizards save for the absolute pinnacle ones like Tommy Boy if he was reincarnated and Dumbles.
Well, not to toot his own horn, but even in their cases, if he had free reign and did not have to worry about pesky stuff like collateral damage, their ability to teleport on a dime or killing them, he could take both of them as well, not in a sustained fight with the unpredictability that was practically guaranteed when fighting wizards that were so old, but in a one shot kill scenario, where he would do whatever it is he wanted to do, from a distance and just finish the problem once and for all.
As he looked at his watch, he saw that it was still an hour until the time they had to gather in the Great Hall, and sighed, getting up. Slinging his backpack on his back, he began walking without an aim in sight. He had an hour; might as well explore whatever he could. What good could come out of just sitting in one place, waiting for people to come?
Just the thought of that made him restless, and his mind could conjure up some truly outlandish scenarios if he was restless enough and jump to thoughts he would love to avoid. He knew what came after such a phase, and he might just blow his cover to fulfill his need to tinker here.
He just had to get through a couple more days before the fabled Room of Requirement was made accessible to him. If it was anything like what Fanon had described it, he could be looking at the best possible workspace he could ask for in Hogwarts. Better than any secluded lab, any cordoned off lobby, any abandoned classroom.
___xx__
Headmaster's office
–Albus Dumbledore–
He smiled as Hogwarts nudged him gently, informing him about the number of students in the castle and how happy it made her. It was a recent addition to the number of functions that Hogwarts apparently discovered for herself as he worked to undo all the restrictions that were inadvertently placed on her whenever someone worked on the original ward schemes and added a new ward function that interfered with her.
It was a monumental undertaking, especially since he couldn't bring in any outside help, with Hogwarts' ward stones being possibly the most important thing in all of Hogwarts, after the students, obviously. Not to mention the upheaval that would happen in the international community when it would be revealed that Hogwarts was a sentient magical entity, one of its kind, built by ancient wizards with magic comparable to relics found in the most difficult of Ancient Ruins.
As he went through all the documents he had to review on a daily basis as part of his various responsibilities, he sighed and leaned back into his chair, already somewhat exhausted despite the sun rising just now. He had no idea how things escalated to such an extent, to the point that he had to actively expend whatever little energy he left during the day to monitor the activities of Hogwarts and see if anything important or interesting was happening or not.
He had to once again smother the guilt that came surging forth when he thought of the workload placed on Minerva, shouldering a majority of the administrative work of Hogwarts simply because he never had the time to do it. Even though the situation had improved in the previous decade or so, even so, he would love nothing more than to hire someone else to help him or Minvera with it, but finding trustworthy people who could handle the workload and work with his current team was simply impossible.
He tried. Over the years, he and Minerva interviewed a combined total of over a hundred candidates, rejecting every single one of them. Eventually, they gave up, leading to their current situation. As morbid as it was, the steady decline of new students year over year because of Tom's reign of terror, collapsing birth rates across every social stature, the workload was manageable.
Now though? This year, they had welcomed the first generation that did not have to grow up under the black cloud of the Death Eaters, and it was his sincere hope that the trend of decreasing number of magical children each year was reversed. This year too, they had a slow but noticeable 5% increase in admissions, which was an improvement he had not seen in over a decade.
Done with his documents for the day, he called forth who he liked to call the most interesting and important Elf of Hogwarts, "Tommy?"
A distinct pop sound, one made on purpose, as confirmed by Tommy, echoed in his office. Looking up, he made a disappointed face at Tommy's continued smoking, despite the visible disapproval of multiple faculty members over it. He hadn't gone so far as to forbid it, as that would be cruelty but he supposed that he expected better from Tommy.
"What do you want? I was in the middle of something there."
"Supervising the new Elves in the kitchen?"
"Naturally."
"I assume you made them cry with your truth."
"Ofcourse, what do you take me for?"
He sighed out loud at that. Tommy ran a tight ship at Hogwarts, acting as the de facto leader of the Elves bound to Hogwarts, and even if he wanted to, he couldn't order Tommy around directly. Sure, most elves acted on the requests given by the staff but if anyone had the actual authority to order them, it was only Hogwarts, and through her, him.
That didn't mean that he didn't disagree with Tommy's methods of dealing with his fellow elves. Ironically, if the nobles outside knew of or even interacted with Tommy, they would think he was from a completely different species and would be shocked at how much progress he'd made where he and many other staff members failed, in terms of the House Elves and making sure they lived properly.
"I was just checking in to make sure everything was fine, in terms of the added load and the new Elves." It was a routine at this point, a song and dance both of them partook in at the start of every year, where new Elves arrived in tandem with new students, the former arriving a few weeks early, almost as if they took into account the training that Tommy would make them go through.
Tommy blew smoke towards him, and his eyes twitched at the action, even though the smoke was banished before it could even properly dissipate, as Tommy only acted rude and inconsiderate, but was probably the best House Elf that he or the faculty here could ask for.
"Everything's fine. Some of the new ones are in rough shape, but I've already talked to Poppy about it. They should be able to work in a week's time, less if Hagrid can come through with the herbs I asked from him." Tommy said, his countenance briefly darkening at the mention of the House Elves and their conditions being less than ideal.
"I'll make sure Hagrid gets them to Poppy, but even so, let them rest for the entire week before giving them any work. I'm sure your team can handle a little extra load for a week."
"Flattery will not get you anywhere, Headmaster. You know that." Tommy said as he snapped his fingers, banishing the last remaining part of the cigarette. Ironically, despite the magical world having much healthier variants, Tommy, the House Elf, most stringent on making sure his workforce remained healthy, regularly partook in cigarettes made in the Muggle world.
They have a better kick, according to Tommy.
"Fine," He exhaled as he retrieved something from his desk drawer, something that would have most nobles look at him in confusion, some in disdain as well.
Muggle currency.
Offering it to Tommy, he made sure to emphasize on the request, "This is for the monthly official Hogwarts tobacco supply. Make sure we have enough in stock for the entire month. Some," He pointedly looked at Tommy, who feigned innocence, "..might smoke through the entire amount in days if not for some requests."
"You got it, Boss!" Tommy said as he, quick as lightning, snatched the cash out of his hand, with magic of course. He had to word it like that because technically House Elves aren't supposed to take pay, as that might be misconstrued as firing them, and even Tommy seemed to be following that rule, so he had to come up with this method to get the tobacco supply for Hogwarts, in an official capacity.
Of course, no one aside from him smokes that so all of this was really just elaborate theatre so Tommy could maintain some thin veneer of separation between just asking for a salary and using stuff that was already allotted to them as part of living in Hogwarts.
As he gestured for Tommy to speak, he immediately rattled off, "Two almost Dark artifacts in the Slytherin Common Room. Confined in their luggage, not yet used. Don't know their functions. No Dark Magic or restricted items found in the new batch. Everyone is healthy, no curses, traces applied to everyone, wands found functional for all but one."
He raised an eyebrow at that part. Usually, it was something else that was flagged by Tommy, but never the wand was never the issue. For one, the Ministry and Hogwarts heavily subsidized the cost of the first wand, to the point that anyone could afford it. Secondly, all Muggleborns had to get it mandatorily and all magicals knew the importance of a good wand, so they would not shirk on that expense.
"Neville Longbottom. His wand is not compatible. Looks used."
He nodded, cataloging that as a reminder to Minerva as he was in her house, not that she would ever phrase it like that, as she liked to think of herself as completely impartial when it came to House stuff.
She was not.
"Magical luggage found in the new batch, but there's one that had a bag that was probably bigger than a Quidditch World Cup Tent, judging by the amount of magic and the layer of enchantments on it. I couldn't detect any other magic on it but it seemed excessive, even for noble standards."
Probably not dangerous but he noted to have the House Head check it out, just in case. It could be a malfunction but in his long experience, that had never happened.
"His name is Damian Hawthorne. I checked. He was also up at 4, asking me to take him outside because Hoggy continued to lead him back to his dorm. He wanted to run, around the Great Lake." Tommy shook his head after that, "Even after all this time, they continue to surprise me."
Damian Hawthorne, huh?
He was glad that he was found and was safe, but he sensed that there was more to the story there. He would have paid more attention had it not been this specific generation. Even so, he noted to have Pomona talk with him if things seemed out of place in any way.
"....That's all." With his piece done, Tommy just popped away, content with the money he'd received for his only demand for his continued employment at Hogwarts as the House Elf Leader.
Word Count - 2531
If you would like to read ahead 12 chapters ahead, you can head to my P*treon.