"…stole the car. If they'd expelled you I wouldn't have been the least bit surprised. Just wait until I get my hands on you. Did it ever cross your mind how your father and I felt when we found the car gone…?"
It was Mrs. Weasley's voice, a hundred times louder than usual, making the plates and spoons on the tables rattle; the echoes off the stone walls were deafening.
Everyone in the Great Hall turned to see who'd got a Howler. Ron shrank down in his seat so only his flaming forehead showed.
In all that commotion, Sean quietly left the table with his lens tube in hand. On the way out, he ran into Professor Flitwick, who was handing out class schedules.
Like Professor McGonagall, he was working his way down his own House table with those important timetables.
On the schedule, the students' day had been extended by one period: the latest classes now finished around five, instead of half past three.
Ravenclaw had no lessons that morning; in the afternoon there was Transfiguration, History of Magic, and a period of Herbology.
Herbology was shared with Slytherin; if nothing went wrong, they'd be re-potting mandrakes.
Last winter Sean and the others had already met those magical plants, when they'd been dressing them in little coats and scarves.
With his timetable in hand, Sean made his way to the Room of Hope. It was lush with plants; a propagation frame stood right at the front.
His wooden cabinet unfolded the instant he arrived, forming a small workbench.
On the windowsill, fallen leaves whispered news: another cool, rich autumn had crept into Hogwarts. Out in the grounds, the fir needles were already turning yellow.
Sean raised his head slowly. His magical refracting lens was finished.
[Magical Refracting Lens: Apprentice level (20/90)]
Its function was simple: to refract incoming light multiple times, then send it unchanged into the wearer's pupils.
In theory you could do this without magic at all, but magic was convenient, and had saved Sean a great deal of time.
Next, he just needed to test whether his method actually worked.
To do that, he had to recall every detail he knew about the Chamber of Secrets; but time had blurred the once-solid facts, leaving only vague outlines.
Sean had expected that, and he had a solution ready.
A Pensieve.
Yes. A Pensieve was enchanted to replay memories, so it could faithfully reconstruct any detail stored in the subconscious. Both the owner of the memory and others could enter and walk around inside it.
Pensieves were very rare, as only the most powerful witches and wizards tended to use them, and most wizards didn't dare. After all, your memories are your most private, precious things.
Traditionally, a witch or wizard's Pensieve was buried with them, like their wand, because it was seen as intensely personal.
Fortunately, as a minorly famous alchemist, Sean could always find a seller.
A shallow stone basin slid out of the cabinet; runes and sigils were carved around its rim.
Inside, silver substance swirled—half liquid, half mist.
Sean raised his wand and the silvery threads of memory flowed back into his head. He could clearly see Mrs. Norris, frozen stiff in his recollection.
It had been an October day, the night of Nearly Headless Nick's Deathday Party, when the basilisk launched its first attack. The victim had been poor Mrs. Norris.
Which meant that in October, when the basilisk moved, he could save Mrs. Norris and, at the same time, test whether the magical refracting lens worked.
The cabinet folded protectively around him. When Sean put the Pensieve back, the wood gulped it down into its deepest compartment, where Sean had placed an emergency self-destruct spell.
He stared at the cabinet.
Was it his imagination?
His wooden bookcase seemed to be getting smarter.
…
On the first day of term, the new students were still dazzled by the magic castle when something even stranger happened: clubs started recruiting.
Hogwarts' clubs had always been fairly low-key; recruitment was mostly a matter of members occasionally dragging in a friend.
Now it was different. One particularly "infuriating" club was recruiting like mad, even poaching people from other clubs, using any means necessary.
That forced the other clubs to get serious about recruiting too.
"Castle Luck Cat Club—the biggest club in all of Hogwarts!"
Hannah, a shy witch, had become much more outgoing since becoming the club's president.
Right now she was surrounded by a little cluster of first-year witches, chattering away.
Beside her stood Neville, head ducked, face red as an apple.
Well… Hannah wasn't wrong—if you ignored the part where they'd been stealing members from other clubs…
"I'm so glad I get to explain it again. You've seen the lucky statue on the third floor, right? That's one of the proofs that the Castle Luck Cat exists… helping us avoid failing exams, helping that Mr. Green—Hogwarts' genius alchemist—and even appearing before Professor Lockhart's Defence classes…
Can you believe it? All those things happened after someone saw the Luck Cat."
She rattled on in one breath, leaving the little witches blinking in confusion.
As he passed, Sean quietly sped up. He glanced around the Hall; a lot of clubs were recruiting now.
Some had banners up, some were making speeches, some were waving a crackling stick to get attention.
There was a Gobstones Club—an odd little sport; Professor Snape's mother had once been its president, and Eileen Prince's name still sat in the trophy case.
There was a Quidditch Club—which was really more of a Hogwarts Quidditch fan society.
There was even a Castle Explorers Club, Fred and George's domain, dedicated to studying all the secret passages.
Alongside the fun clubs, Hogwarts also had more serious ones: the Magical Society, a Charms Club, and other study-focused groups.
Those, unsurprisingly, had all been founded by Ravenclaws.
As for Hufflepuffs, most of them had joined a club Sean found particularly interesting: the Never Go Hungry Club.
"Sean, I heard your next class is Herbology,"
Justin emerged from the bustling Hall, clutching a few mandrake leaves.
"Could I see your Animagus transformation? I've been really interested in it lately."