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Hogwarts
–Damian Hawthorne–
The next day, he kept a lookout for any odd behavior from the seven, but in the brief period he had been able to observe them in the Great Hall, he could see no changes, not visible ones anyway. He would just have to hope that he had cast the spell correctly and keep an eye on them for years to come, to see if he had inadvertently done long lasting damage to their minds.
Shaking his head, he concentrated on what Snape was saying about Potions, still on about the theoretical portion that was written word to word in the books they had purchased for the first year. The books that he'd read through and mostly memorised by the time he even boarded that train to get here.
Combined with his thoughts drifting to the realisation he had last night, one could understand the level of boredom and distraction that he had been cursed with.
His mind then drifted to the topic of Tommy and what he, along with that Baby Unicorn, represented, because there must be some sort of link between the two of them, for both of them to evoke such strong reactions from him, to the point he was ready to discard his long since decided plans.
Thankfully, he was extra aware of what Snape might do if caught distracted, so he made sure to go through the motions, which was not hard because of the aforementioned memorisation. Then, he did the same for History as well, by sleeping. Yes, most of the students, even with just a month in, had figured out that Binns was not really worth listening to, which is why they either slept or did their homework.
The entire school knew of it, Binns himself knew of it, probably, but no one minded because that's just what was expected from one of the premier schools in Europe now.
Pathetic.
Now that he had spent some time at Hogwarts, the initial magical filter had fallen off, revealing to him a school that was chronically understaffed, most probably underfunded, with a very distracted and uninterested leadership, and a student body that was more focused on putting someone else down than getting an actual education here, for the most part.
There were people who seriously studied, but that was part of the minority. The loud majority, which was not as big as they would like themselves to believe, were more focused on making connections than studying, which was fine, he supposed since that Magical World really did run on connections for the most part, until it didn't.
It only ran on connections until it met something more powerful. Pure power trounced most connections you could make here. That is the most important facet of control here, and unfortunately, Dumbledore doesn't seem to be using his power, be it political or magical, to improve Hogwarts.
Hell, even in his admittedly short time here, he had more than a dozen suggestions, most of which could be done with just money. Money that should be a non issue because this was a magical world, for Merlin's sake.
Shaking his head, he entered his dorm, catching the tail end of a discussion regarding Harry Potter and his heroic entry into the Gryffindor Quidditch Team, despite being a First Year, an unprecedented feat. Potter had a lot of fans here as well. Terry was one of them as well. Fortunately, he was not here yet, which gave him the opportunity to just give him the slip and go to the one room of interest to him right now.
The Room of Requirement.
Those books were not going to be borrowed permanently on their own.
___xx___
–Albus Dumbledore–
He was standing outside the Castle Gates, just on the boundary of the Hogwarts' Wands, waiting for Kato to arrive, per his letter. And just like last time, a mist emerged all around him, as Kato arrived. Unlike last time, however, he was not alone. No, he had three people with him, all of them cloaked, not just visibly but also magically.
"Headmaster," He greeted Kato.
"Headmaster." Kato nodded back, but before they could move on, he interjected.
"I am sorry, but I cannot allow unknown and magically cloaked individuals inside the Castle. My students are my first priority. They can either stay here or they can remove their cloaks, the ones that keep them hidden magically. The wards need to acknowledge their existence, otherwise I can't in good conscience let them in."
He firmly reminded Kato, and that was not something he was going to budge on. Kato stared at him for a while, but he remained silent, standing in their path, before Kato grunted and said something in a foreign language. Xhosa, if he could identify it correctly.
The three individuals' robes shimmered in blue lights before they took off the cowl, and just like that, their magical signatures were now presented to him. Strangely, only two of them were wizards, with the corresponding magical signature. They were strong as well, almost on par with Minerva, if he had to venture a guess, though students from the Uagadou school of Magic rarely fought traditionally so it would be foolish on his part to underestimate them in any way.
The third one was an interesting signature. He could feel it, an energy of sorts, not magic yet similar, circulating all around the man's body. He was young as well. Likely just in his twenties, with all the accompanying anger, rebellion, and defiance that came with it.
Smiling slightly, he gestured for all of them to enter. It would seem that Kato had brought with him some pretty interesting people. He wondered what Kato wanted to do, by showing him an entirely new breed of magical people, if he was taking things at their face value.
The person was not a vampire or any other magical hybrid, of that he was certain. In his long life, he had met all people, ranging from half goblins to half Sea Urchins. Humans are a strangely curious species, in that regard.
As they crossed the Hogwarts ward boundary, he relaxed slightly, and conversely, they tensed slightly. Not Kato, he was aware of what he was walking into, but the other three, even the one who should technically be unable to sense it, on account of not having the right brand of magic.
Now that they were tagged by Hogwarts, they could don their cloaks and all but vanish from his senses, it wouldn't worry him one bit because they had been tagged by Hogwarts. As long as they were within her area of power, they could be wearing any stealth equipment, her wards would trounce it and locate them, especially if they strayed to areas where they were not supposed to go.
"I assume you read the Ministry missive?" Kato prompted him as soon as they sat in his office, impatient to get all the information out of him, it would seem. He, on the other hand, was still unsure whether to give them everything, based on what he had seen.
He nodded, "Yes, I did. And I have some questions regarding that," He could feel the two wizards that had come with Kato twitch, visible restraining themselves from speaking, as Kato did the speaking for them, with the third, not wizard looking around the office, with the eyes of a warrior, searching for weapons, exits, etc.
So, not a wizard in a strict sense but a physically oriented one? Magic that had warped his body to become a weapon instead of using magic in an external manner? Like the CHI masters he'd heard so much about but never got the chance to meet?
His attention was brought back to Kato as he spoke, "Speak."
"I would like to know more about the incident before I participate in this manhunt. He is an extremely dangerous foe, and I would like to know more before I can let the Ministry send its Aurors to face him, even with you and your people there."
Kato remained silent for a moment before speaking up, slowly, but with a sense of finality in his tone, "Then let me assure you. None of your people need to participate. You tell me what you have learned and we will be on our way. I will stay here as insurance, but they," Kato's hand gestured behind him, " are more than capable of ferreting out that terrorist. I assume that clears things up here, Albus?"
No, it did not, but at this point, his hands were tied. He only had that point as somewhat of a proper opposition, but since that was resolved, he could not legally go against the Ministry orders.
Sighing, he relayed what little he had learned from the short encounter with the Giant Killer. He made sure to emphasise the part where the man clearly worked tirelessly to save the innocent people who had been turned into thralls, to showcase his good side but he had a hunch it did not have any effect on these people.
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