Chapter 40: First Term
Deep in the dungeons, in an old unused classroom Rick and Lily were waiting for Professor Dumbledore with books on alchemy open but also books on basic chemistry that Rick had asked Tipsy to bring him from home. He gave her a few of the sweets left from his shopping spree in London to bribe her into saying nothing to his parents. Not like he needed it but he didn’t like ordering her around and covering for him without giving her something in return.
“I wonder how it would compare to chemistry.” wondered Rick aloud while sitting on a stool.
“I wouldn’t know, I‘ve never studied chemistry.”
“Didn’t mom teach you this summer?” He was a bit surprised and curious at what he heard.
“No. We focused on something else besides my work on the potion for werewolves.”
“You still won’t tell me if I ask again?”
“I won’t, no.”
“I hope you know how incredibly curious and frustrated I am about not knowing what you and my mom get on. If I didn’t know she loved me to death…”
“That she does and yes, I’m aware. Let’s just say it’s a surprise.”
“So you will tell me one day. I can live with that. What about the potion? Is it a secret too?”
“Not really. We believe we have something working but the number of ingredients, their high prices and the regularity at which it needs to be taken is not worth it in the end, so we’re researching a bit more on it.”
“That’s excellent news!”
Both students stood up from their stools and turned around to greet Dumbledore who almost glided into the room.
““Good evening, Professor.””
“And good evening to you too.”
He reached the front of the teacher desk and turned around to face them. He took a deep breath in silence and let out a very pleased sigh.
“It’s been years since I’ve taught anything. The prospect is filling me with nostalgia and excitement.” The twinkle in his eyes was unmistakable and proved the truth of his words.
“Why did you stop teaching, sir? If I may ask.”
“Oh, you may. It’s no secret that after Headmaster Dippet retired, the Department of Magical Education and the Ministry as a whole didn’t think too hard on his replacement. Because of my reputation, very few wizards or witches felt they had what it takes to be the Head of the school when I already was the Deputy head. They thought they would anger me or at the very least slight me. Nonsense in truth but well… No one had the courage to verify that. None that had the skills to lead Hogwarts at least. So I ended up taking the post and getting accustomed to it. That left me with little time to teach. Then responsibilities outside Hogwarts began piling up and here we are.”
“Had I known, I would have convinced you to teach us with that.”
Dumbledore chuckled at the bold statement Rick gave while Lily hit him to the side with her elbow for his impropriety.
“It would have been a bit more difficult but surely less expensive. Now I see from here you already have a book on the basic introduction on alchemy and muggle chemistry.”
“Yes. I had in mind that well… alchemy was just chemistry with magic involved. Of course it’s an oversimplified thought but the name’s root alone and the close history between the two made me think it wasn’t far-fetched.”
“You’re correct in that regard, Mister Wald. In fact what many people forget or never even knew is that at the beginning of Alchemy, a time where muggles and magicals were still living with each other, wizards and witches simply incorporated muggle discoveries into the art. I’d even go so far to say that chemistry is a more recent name. It was just alchemy back then and it didn’t matter if magic was involved or not. In fact there was no distinction between muggle and magical discoveries. You may find relevant information in this muggle textbook for what we’re going to study for the next two years. Now, let’s start with a bit of history and definition, because alchemy is not just the art of transmutation, it’s so much more.”
Dumbledore began to talk about where alchemy is known to have started, by whom and for what purposes. The way it was used for and the philosophy behind it. Lily had asked if that was why the philosopher’s stone was called like that instead of something else, like the sorcerer’s stone or the wizard’s stone and Dumbledore revealed that yes, it was. More than producing the elixir of life and changing any metal into gold, the famous stone was in fact the greatest alchemical artifact ever created as the symbol of the alchemy philosophy.
An hour into the class, the Headmaster, put aside history to make some demonstration of basic transmutation. He began listing the basics element and numbered it up to 64.
“Hm, sir?” interrupted Rick.
“Yes?”
“There are 104 now. As of 1974.”
“Is that so?” was a genuine question full of curiosity.
“Yes. That’s what the periodic table says.”
“Periodic table?”
Rick opened his muggle book and showed him the periodic table of elements. Immediately, Dumbledore began to read it with great interest.
“Fascinating.” After looking at it a bit more he leaned the book down and looked at Rick. “What’s an atom?”
“Oh, boy. This is going to be a bit of a long explanation, sir.”
“Well, we have the time. You’ll see that while alchemy is a really diverse discipline, the basics on which everything is built upon are quite simple and few. By Christmas you’ll be done with them and start practicing until your NEWTs.”
“In that case, may I call my house elf to bring a few more books?”
Dumbledore granted him permission, and soon Rick was outlining the foundations of atomic theory, explaining with precision and clarity how all matter—magical and non-magical alike—was composed of infinitesimal particles called atoms. He detailed the layered complexity of these particles, their interactions, and how Muggle science had developed models to explain and sometimes even predict their behavior. With each concept, he transitioned fluidly from the physical to the theoretical, weaving together natural laws and the potential they held for magical application.
At one point, visibly intrigued, Dumbledore gently stepped aside and invited Rick to take a more prominent position at the front of the room, while he himself settled beside Lily to better observe the unfolding lesson. What followed was far from a traditional lecture. It became a dynamic and intellectually charged exchange where ideas flowed freely between all three participants. They discussed how the analytical mindset used in science could be adapted to enhance alchemical practices—how, by anticipating the specific interactions of ingredients at a fundamental level, one could potentially predict the outcome of an experiment before it even began.
The conversation gradually shifted to the practical implications of such a method. They explored how a precise, formula-based approach to alchemy might allow for the creation of entirely new compounds while dramatically reducing material waste. This line of thinking resonated deeply with Rick, and he chose that moment to share a personal project he had been working on in secrecy since his second or third year.
He had long been experimenting with the idea of determining exact, quantifiable ingredient thresholds in potion-making—not just approximate amounts, but exact measurements that reliably triggered desired magical reactions, essentially mapping out the mechanics behind the magic.
Lily, following the thread of his explanation, quickly grasped the deeper nature of what he was describing. It went well beyond what she had studied with Dorea during the summer, where the focus had been on refining and concentrating the essential magical properties of ingredients.
Rick’s approach was a structural deconstruction of magic itself—a systematic attempt to understand its very blueprint. She immediately recognized the significance, and in that moment, both she and Dumbledore understood that Rick wasn’t merely experimenting—he was laying the groundwork for a new magical paradigm.
The sight of the three of them talking like colleagues of the discipline and not teacher and students was surreal to Minerva McGonagall that had come into the room. Especially when she saw Rick in the teaching position and Albus as a student.
“So you were still here.”
“Ah, Minerva. We’re spending the most marvelous moment. Why-”
“Albus, it’s one hour past curfew. You’re late for our meeting.” She cut him off.
“Oh.” This little sound appeared like a child caught in the middle of having fun and stopped to do his chores.
While outwardly Minerva retained her composure, inwardly she was more than amused. “Yes, ‘Oh’. Now Miss Evans, Mister Wald. I suggest you go back to your beds.”
““Yes, Professor.””
“Hm, Mister Wald…”
“You can keep the book, Professor. I’ll ask my mother for another.”
Dumbledore sounded more than pleased by the gift. “Thank you.”
Lily and Rick quickly exited the classroom, leaving behind their teachers.
“Minerva.”
“Yes?”
“I had not had so much fun in decades.” Dumbledore confessed.
“Really? How so?”
“I was all excited at the prospect of teaching again and I ended up being a student discovering new things.”
Albus was absolutely giddy and Minerva didn’t miss that.
“I think the next couple years are going to be great.”
“If you say so.”
“That reminds me, I need to send a letter to Nicholas and Perenelle. They won’t believe what I just learned.” he was holding the book on chemistry in his hand as if it was a holy book.
“Tomorrow, Albus. We still have a meeting, remember?”
“Ah, yes. Yes, the meeting.”
No matter what was said at the meeting, Albus Dumbledore’s mind was elsewhere.
From then on, armed with new knowledge, the Headmaster changed his class a tiny bit. Teaching an hour of history then an hour of experimenting. Doing the usual transmutations exercises but also, while Rick and Lily were doing their work, testing with his newly acquired knowledge to see how much it held up. He had not been disappointed so far.
Rick had confessed to Lily that their time in alchemy class made him feel less of a teenager and more like an adult which he found weird. After thinking about it for a bit, the redhead had agreed with him saying she felt the same.
“That’s because of Professor Dumbledore. He took the approach of a student too and we ended up as practitioners exchanging ideas. That’s not a bad feeling.”
“No, it’s not. But…”
“But?”
“I had to grow up faster as an orphan. I, more than regular children, was aware of how the world was. Before I got my Hogwarts letter I was already planning my future. I knew I wouldn’t get adopted, I was too old for that, so I wondered what I would do once I reached my majority. How to live, how to earn money… Then I arrived at Hogwarts and for the first time… I was allowed to be a kid, you know? To enjoy life, to have friends. The future didn’t look so uncertain and bleak and I didn’t think about it anymore. And now… My old fears are back. In a few months I’ll be seventeen. An adult in the Wizarding World and I just… I just don’t feel ready to be one, I suppose? That I’m not mature enough.”
Lily, with a soft smile on her face, moved from the pillow she was sitting on and went to hug him in comfort.
“I don’t feel ready either. With the discrimination against muggle-born increasing, I’m afraid of what I will do for a job when we graduate. I saw how difficult it was for Ted to find work. I don’t want to be in this situation.”
“You won’t be. Not if I have anything to say about it. I’m pretty sure that’s the same for mom.”
Suddenly both were hugged by Marlene who showed up out of nowhere.
“Not nice having a group hug without me.” she complained, making both her friends chuckle.
“It wasn’t a group hug because two doesn’t make a group.” Rick retorted.
“Whatever.”
“Where were you by the way? Usually you go back late from breakfast on Saturday.” Lily asked.
“At the quidditch pitch! I went to see the tryouts and thought this idiot would be there but he wasn’t!”
Lily’s eyes widened in realization. She had been so focused on her homework that she forgot about that. She turned to Rick with a quizzical look.
“I was there. I left.”
“Why? Aren’t you supposed to help test and decide the new members of the teams? With half the team graduating last year there are three positions to fill, no?”
“Five. Dee is focusing on her NEWTs so a new beater is needed. The team also needs a new keeper and three chasers.”
“Three chasers? Potter stopped playing?”
“Oh, no. He’s there with Black. Captain of the team even.” Marlene said and suddenly realized why Rick was here. “He didn’t! Please, tell me that arshole didn’t!” she exclaimed looking at Rick.
“Did what?” wondered aloud a confused Lily.
“Potter wanted to play seeker and so, in his capacity as captain of the team, appointed himself as seeker without the need of tryouts for the position.” Rick’s explanation took a moment to register with Lily. When it did, she exploded in fury.“HE DID WHAT?!”
“He effectively kicked Rick out of the Team! Now I understand why some housemates were not happy!”
“THAT TOE-RAG!”
“Girls…”
“Marlene! Let’s go see Professor McGonagall! Potter can’t-”
“LILY!”
The redhead stopped her angry rant on the spot. Rick had never yelled at her before. He had screamed her name, sure but it was during the throes of passion. Not yelled it like that.
“It doesn’t matter. I don’t care about quidditch, you know that. I’m pretty sure that’s why I wasn’t made captain despite being the oldest member on the team. If Potter wants to play seeker so he can show off, I say let him. It’s not like it will do him any good anyway. You still won’t look twice at him if you ever do it once to begin with and I get to spend more time with you and Marlene. The way I see it, it’s a win for me and another loss for him.”
The fact that she got to spend more time with her boyfriend while Potter simply shot himself in the foot brought a stop to her fury. She completely deflated and began to laugh.
“I so want to rub it in his face when you two finally go public.”
“Patronus worthy memory, I bet.” quipped Rick, making Lily laugh even more.
“Cherry on the cake is that while he’s smugly thinking he’s wooing Lily by playing quidditch as seeker and evicting me from the team, I’d be ravaging her and you.”
He had whispered sultrily into Lily’s ear but loud enough for Marlene to hear and make her snort.
“I don’t see much ravaging happening.” Lily replied with a pout.
“Where do you want to go?”
“The room!” Marlene cut in. “I love our bedroom but with the room we can play a lot more.”
Everyone agreed with her and they all left the Gryffindor common room for the seventh floor of the Astronomy Tower. Nobody saw them until morning the day after.
The rest of the calendar year was not worth mentioning with the exception of the quidditch game against Ravenclaw. Gryffindor had won but only with a ten points lead and that was by catching the snitch. This year's Ravenclaw team was exceptionally good compared to Gryffindor and Hufflepuff’s teams. They still had most members from the previous year who had an excellent team cohesion thanks to experience.
Gryffindor’s narrow victory was thanks to Potter who caught the snitch as soon as he could.
Not because he has proven himself a better seeker (which in Rick’s honest opinion, he was) compared to the Ravenclaw’s but because Sirius had made a really good hit on her, taking her out of the chase. For Potter, he had caught the snitch and it was all that mattered. He was often seen playing around with it while in presence of girls - most notably Lily - while putting a hand through his air to mess even more the already messy bird nest he had on his head and appear cool.
One person that had not been happy with the game was one Minerva McGonagall. She had been shocked to see that Rick had not been part of the team, asked him why he had quit and was beside herself when she learned that he hadn’t. She had a few words with Potter and had been quite clear that if Gryffindor didn’t get the cup this year because he had kicked the best player out of the team for his stupid need to show off, there would be consequences. Of course James didn’t care because Gryffindor was going to win the cup. He was confident of that.
Despite Amelia’s promise to show up at Hogsmeade for a visit she had been unable to do so. As such Rick, with the permission of his parents, had invited her for dinner on Christmas Eve at the Manor. He also convinced Lily to go back home for the holidays to see her parents instead of going with him to the Manor. She had only seen her family for two weeks in the past year and it wasn’t right. No matter how much she didn’t get along with her older sister, her parents probably wanted to see her. In the end she compromised.
She would spend Christmas with her family but New Year with his. The offer was extended to Marlene who loved the idea. She wouldn’t miss Christmas with her family but she could miss the New Year’s ball. She couldn’t wait to meet with them. For one because she’d see his mother again, for two because she will finally meet his father and for three finally to visit Potter Manor.
Instead of taking the train, Rick used the floo at the Three Broomsticks to get home. It wasn’t authorized but nobody checked if you took the train or not, so he didn’t miss the opportunity to fly from the train station to the small village without anyone but Lily and Marlene knowing any better.
He didn’t know who was faster to greet him. His mother or Nymphadora? All he knew was that he was glomped fiercely and nearly fell backward.
“You’re home!” the three year old exclaimed with all the giddiness and cuteness a child her age had in her possession.
“I promised, didn’t I?” He crouched down and picked her up in his arms. He gave her a kiss on the cheek and turned to his mother who had since let him go. He brought her in a one arm hug and she too got a kiss. “Have you both been good girls while I was away?”
“Yesss!”
Dorea tried to give him a scolding look but ended with quite the comical expression on her face. A bright smile on her lips but her eyebrows were set in a frown.
“Well? Did my mom behave, Nymie?” he asked the metamorphmagus since his mother didn’t give him an answer.
“Nooo?”
“No?”He looked at his mother with a brow raised, wanting to know more.
“She cursed grandpa because he was mean but mommy said he deserved it.”
“Is that so?”
“Uh-huh.”
Nymphadora nodded her head very fast to indicate it was true. As if the faster she moved her head the truer her words. Rick gave her another kiss on the cheek and put her down.
“I have to speak with my mom, so why don’t you go play outside with Tipsy?”
“Can I fly?”
“Not without an adult present but I’ll be there soon.”
“‘Kay!”
She ran to the garden on her little legs and quickly got out of sight, her already green hair turning a few shades brighter.
“Huh. I’ll never get tired of seeing the color of her hair change. So grandfather? As in Arcturus Black?” He took his mother’s hand and led her towards the couch.
“I sent him a howler after you left for school. I called him a stupid, stubborn, spiteful, snobbish, shameless, sandwich for disowning Andromeda.” The grin on her face had nothing but pride in it. “I also insulted his son and our niece and dared him if he had anything to say in response to come and say it to my face.”
“And he did.”
“Oh, yes, he did.” Her grin widened even more. “Didn’t think he would actually but apparently he received the howler during a family dinner. He had his image of the Lord of the House to maintain so he immediately came.”
“And?”
At this point he was leaning on her and both snuggled a bit.
“I was surprised when his angry voice came through the floo. We heard him from the kitchen. Andromeda was terrified. Thankfully your father was there and reassured her while I went to open the floor and let Acturus in. He yelled, I yelled then we hugged.” she chuckled, remembering how the reunion went. “He served me some bullshit about how he couldn’t do anything but disowned Andromeda for breaking her marriage contract and eloping with a mudblood since she tarnished the reputation of the House. Naturally the m-word enraged her and she came into the living room, wand drawn. My brother’s face…” Now she laughed. “He looked like a goldfish.”
“He wasn’t expecting you to have found her and offered shelter?”
“No, he didn’t. He got called a few more names and he drew his wand when Ted showed up to support her. When he tried to use a curse? I was faster and transformed his mouth into a duck's beak.”
“Please, tell me he quacked.” Rick, at this point, was very amused.
“He did!” Dorea exploded in laughter and so did he.
“He was furious, I bet?”
“Completely red in the face and quacked even more. I really thought he was going to explode. He only stopped when Nymphadora, who had followed her parents, changed her own mouth into a duck’s beak and quacked too.
He froze in place. I told him that this was no way to introduce himself to his great granddaughter and only then did he lower his wand. He slowly walked towards her, took a knee and began to exchange quacks. From there, everything went better. He doesn’t like Ted and probably never will but he began patching up things with Andromeda.
He reassured her that he loved her and confessed that disowning her had been the hardest thing he had to do in his life. Your Aunt Melania has still not forgiven him for that. Anyway, at least once every two weeks they eat together here at the manor with the girls. Of course he wanted to know how I found her and I told him about you. He’s interested in meeting you.”
Rick shrugged his shoulders, not particularly caring.
“As long as he doesn’t spout sandwich bullshit I have no problem with that.”
“Good because he and Melania are coming for the holidays. You’ll love Melania, she’s really sweet. How my brother stole her heart is a mystery.”
“Now that I think about it. Is there more family members you intend to reconnect with that I don’t know about?”
“Hmmm… My sister Cassiopeia. Everyone believes she’s dead but Arcturus and I know she’s not. She’s not really popular for having supported Grindelwald even though she defected. There is also Lucretia, my niece, Acturus’ and Melania’s daughter, not Pollux. She’s persona non-grata in the Black Family because she went to marry a Prewett but was not disowned.”
“I sense that Pollux is quite the piece of work.”
“You have no idea. A monster that’s what he was. The oldest of us and he joined Grindelwald. Followed him fervently. He killed my older brother Marius when he was ten for being a squib. Officially it was an accident, Marius simply drowned but Acurus and I knew. Cassie never believed it until he confessed during the war. She killed him and then defected.”
“She killed him?” Rick repeated out of shock and to get confirmation that he heard correctly.
“Marius and her had been really close while growing up. She was her favorite brother. Pollux was cruel and sadistic. Acturus, too serious and interested in duty. Marius… was kind.” She had a sad smile on her face talking about her deceased brother. “Cassie believed in blood purity in the sense that you have magic or not but she didn’t believe in persecuting squibs. For her, they had the right blood but were just suffering from a sickness with no known cure.”
“I get the feeling that she’s quite…the woman.”
“That she is.”
“So family dinner during the holidays duly noted. Anything else has happened that’s worth mentioning?”
“On top of my head, no.”
“Alright. Then let’s go outside. I think if we talk any longer Nymphadora will come to get us.”
He rose from the couch, pulling his mother with him and both went to the garden to fly a bit.