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Hogwarts
–Damian Hawthorne–
It was surreal, attending classes normally, as if there were no Wakandan mages just sitting inside the Castle grounds, presumably here because they were the ones who managed to track him down. He cursed the isolated location of Hogwarts, as there was nothing but Hogwarts for miles around here.
Hogsmeade did not count because it was part of Hogwarts itself, with the population being so small that it couldn't even be called a proper town. The only reason it existed was because of the attraction of living in close proximity to Hogwarts, and also because of the small businesses that ran off the older students that were allowed to visit Hogsmeade.
He palmed the small box he had kept in his pocket, and reminded himself why he had brought here with him. Just in case, he told himself as he carried around something that would incapacitate most wizards in the vicinity, allowing him to escape. Hell, even he would not be able to escape the blast radius in time, but he had tested it before and he would like to think that he had would recover far before anyone else could, and yes, that included the likes of Dumbledore, for he knew that the principles required to resist total magid deconstruction were present only in Sorcery, something that Dumbledore presumably was not.
If he was, then, well, he was well and truly f*cked.
As he was lost in his thoughts, his gaze inadvertently slid to the most oddball of magical signatures he had senses amongst the student populace. When looking at her through his lens of advanced magical senses, he wondered why Dumbledore or the other faculties never took any special interest in her.
Hell, her special flavour of magic alone should have warranted research, let alone her suspected exotic abilities. Her magic felt….light, ethereal to him, as if it was only magic in disguise and something else in reality. Her eyes, too, were glazed over as she yawned, looking at the professor. Well, in her defence, it was History of Magic, and that was basically nap time for everyone.
Her particular brand of magic might just be best suited for divination, but without taking her to Kamar Taj and getting expert advice, he couldn't be sure. There was also the question of whether he should or not. He knew that she experienced a traumatic event, so much so that it permanently altered her way of looking at the world.
So far, he hadn't encountered any of the elusive creatures she would label as Nargles or Wrackspurts, and even if they did exist, they existed out of his realm of senses, which would be a fascinating study in magic. All of that rested on a big if, and that was his limited time here at Hogwarts.
He barely had a year here and a lot of other stuff to do, and that was before he discovered the presence of Wakandan wizards on campus, something that set him on edge as he had to constantly be on the lookout for an attack.
He had come to appreciate the safe feeling that Hogwarts provided to him, so long as he remained inside the castle. To the point that he had begun to relax, the same as back when he was in his Lair. Alas, today shattered any notion of this being on the same level of protection as his Lair, both because of the trace spell that almost managed to latch onto his magic and also because Dumbledore allowed these people on the campus.
People who were hiding from everyone clearly had no business being in a school, in his humble opinion.
Shaking his head slightly, he clenched his hand, holding his last option before going on with the rest of his day. He had no idea how to get past this, not without blowing atleast part of his over and it grated on him so badly, to be forced into such a lose-lose position that more than once, he entertained the thought of letting loose and beating them within an inch of their life.
For once, he had a community around him, even though he was called a loner by most of his class, and was starting to come around to the idea of being more involved with the magical world, and then, they had to come and force him to make a choice.
A choice that he could see himself making, in the near future, once the picture was a bit clearer, and as he went back to his dorms after an entire day of nothing happening, he knew just who to call to get that clearer picture, and the best place for that meeting.
"Tommy, I need your help." He paused before hurriedly continuing, "I need Tommy the chain smoker, please."
It was good that he was in the Room of Requirement, with the standard reading room loadout, his favourite configuration of the room, waiting for Tommy to come. He would have loved to have something like this in his Lair, but to accommodate such a huge energy sink for so little utility in return felt a waste, not to mention actually deploying the enchantments on the room without the corresponding magical Intelligence to properly direct it, like Hogwarts has. Even with the right tools, it would take decades, maybe more, for an intelligence of Hogwarts' level to be born.
There was a pop sound as he turned around, seeing Tommy with his cigar in his mouth, looking at him with anger, and disdain, which was warranted somewhat, but now was not the time for that. It was good that Tommy was an anomaly, someone who did not do stuff unless explicitly ordered, and he did not think that Dumbledore would expressly ask a House Elf if someone had inquired about the Wakdanans that were scurrying around Hogwarts, under cloaking spells.
"Can you tell me about the people who are moving about Hogwarts, hidden under cloaking spells?"
This question was risky, because even a hint of this conversation reaching Dumbledore's ears meant his cover was blown, and for any further stay at Hogwarts, he would have to deal with a manipulative old coot who liked to think he knew best, but he also couldn't just remain blind to the events around him. He did not like being kept in the dark, he had realised in the span of a few hours.
Tommy's eyes widened immensely at the question before he replied with visible suspicion in his tone, "They are Hoggy's guests."
He sighed. This was going to be a hard conversation. The same property of Tommy that reduced the risk of this conversation reaching Dumbledore's ears was also responsible for making it hard to get any concrete information out of Tommy.
___xx___
–Albus Dumbledore–
"Headmaster." He greeted Kato as he sat stiffly in front of his table, and took the tea that appeared in front of him, courtesy of the House Elves. The same House Elves who had informed him of something interesting about the people Kato had brought with him.
"Headmaster." Kato nodded at him, his face closed off.
After a few moments of them just sipping on the wonderful tea made by the Elves, he sighed and started the dialogue that was almost certain to end in not so amicable ways.
"I noticed your people haven't left yet. I assume you know they can leave anytime they want?" His voice was soft, conversational even, but the question was anything but. Kato knew that keeping his people here and not out, looking for the Giant Killer when they had come here with that express purpose, sent out a bad message, and when the message concerned the children in his school, he was not one to let it go lightly.
Kato finished his tea, before replying, "I hope we can solve this amicably, without coming to blows." The tone set off alarm bells ringing in his head, as Kato continued, "We have tracked down the Giant Killer's general location."
An impressive feat, especially since he saw during Kato's last visit, the vast repertoire of exotic spells just bounding off of whatever protections that the Giant Killer had against such methods, resulting in no reliable way to track him down. If they managed that this time meant that either they used something that caught the Giant Killer off guard or they used something with far more power behind it.
He was sure that a Grand Ritual was involved somewhere, and the fact that he hadn't heard of it, meant that it was an illegal operation. His experience with such rituals told him that they couldn't have done that from Africa. No, they needed to do it on the same continent, at the very least, and due to the leyline configurations of Magical Britain, they could do this in very few places. His best bet was Ireland, as the magical governance in that part was woefully inadequate, creating the perfect conditions for an illegal Grand Ritual.
All of these thoughts ran through his mind instantly as Kato said the next sentence with hesitation, "He is in Hogwarts."
"Impossible!" The words left his mouth before he could even consciously register them, his mind churning out worst case scenarios as he thundered at someone who should be his peer, but at the moment, etiquettes were the farthest thing from his mind, "How reliable is your Grand Ritual?"
Kato's surprised expression faded away in resigned acceptance, "Should have known you would figure it out. As for the Grand Ritual, it is accurate. Very much so. It was devised decades before I was born and has been used to track down powerful wizards and warlords across Africa without failing even once, even when exotic magic was involved."
He leaned back in his chair, his voice a whisper, "You think he's a student here?"
It made sense. It couldn't be any of the faculty, and it was impossible for an interloper to enter Hogwarts, let alone stay hidden for so long. Hogwarts wouldn't let that happen. Could it be one of the older students?
Before Kato could get any ideas and ask him something that could not be taken back, he vehemently refused, "No. I will not give you free rein over my students over an unsubstantiated claim. Any further actions from your team will lead to your eviction, that I guarantee."
Kato just looked defeated at that, which was odd. What else did he expect? He was asking him to open the student populace to an inspection by a foreign power who was only supposed to be in the country to look for a supposed terrorist.
How could they justify looking for the terrorist amidst the students? Even if he did nothing, the Board of Governors would shut down the school before letting that happen.
If you would like to read ahead 12 chapters ahead, you can head to my P*treon.