First Day

Atreus woke up about half an hour later. That was all the sleep he needed, and he quickly put on his attire. Since it was still quite early, he decided he might as well spend some time reading the books for his school year.

The chairs in the Common Room looked way more comfortable than the ones in his room, so Atreus went over there and picked one. Only the quiet sound of the fireplace crackling greeted him as everyone else was still asleep.

About ten minutes later or so, the entrance to the Common Room opened up. Snape walked in, and the almost unnoticeable widening of his eyes was the only indication of his surprise at seeing Atreus there. He probably wasn't expecting someone to be already up this early.

Snape turned to the notice board and placed a few parchments on it. Those were the schedules for all the students. He then turned to Atreus and studied him for a moment.

"Mr. Flamel... I see you are up early despite your nightly activities," Snape said, his tone as neutral as possible.

Atreus looked at him with a slight tilt to his head. He had told Dumbeldore not to report him to the headmaster, but he didn't mention the Head of his House. He won't forget the next time he meets the old man.

"What you do after curfew is none of my concern as long as you don't get caught," Snape said, making no indication of trying to stop him, "The Headmaster has decided to let you be for now and not assign any detention to you."

Snape was about to turn around and leave when Atreus spoke up, "You can just address me as Atreus. It will be weird if you call me Mr. Flamel if dad and I are in the same room."

Snape's eyes narrowed, and he studied the boy or young man as Dumbledore called him. The students in his House would never make such a request. They loved being given a title and addressed with their family name. It empowered them and made them feel special. Snape thought Atreus would be the same since he was sorted into Slytherin, but maybe he was wrong. Or was it all part of some elaborate plan?

"By your request, I will refer to you by your first name in the presence of your father or outside of class," Snape nodded in a moment, "We will be seeing each other in class later today. I have high expectations of you... Atreus."

Snape then turned around and left, not giving Atreus a chance to respond. It felt weird to address as a student by their first name; it just didn't fit with his act.

However, Snape respected it. Atreus was part of the Flamels, a family that was famous among the more knowledgeable or older members of their society. Yet, he wanted to be viewed as his own man rather than what his surname represented. If his Godson was in Atreus' shoes, Draco would be throwing his weight around, showing everyone how superior he was to them.

That's why he respected that and also why Snape gave him a hint. Hopefully, Atreus will read a bit from his Potions book or have some knowledge ingrained on him by his father. However, he had to refer to him as Mr. Flamel during classes. Calling him Atreus in front of the rest of the Slytherin would be like showing weakness to a pack of hyenas.

About an hour later, the Slytherins began waking up and trickling into the Common Room one by one. Some greeted him in surprised but sleepy voices.

Tracey and Daphne soon walked in as well; the two girls shared the same room. They walked over to the notice board first, and the blonde let out an audible groan.

"Double History of Magic with Binns as a start? At least we're going to get a few more hours of sleep," Tracey said, and most others appeared to agree with her.

After seeing him, they walked over and sat down on two chairs near him.

"Morning," Tracey said, and Atreus greeted them back.

"You didn't lose us any points, did you?" Daphne asked in a moment.

"I didn't," Atreus shook his head, "but what is their purpose?"

"At the end of the year, the House with the most points wins the House Cup. Slytherin had a seven-year win streak, but Gryffindor beat us the last three years. They always somehow get an influx of points that comes out of nowhere at the end of the year," Tracey complained.

"The House Cup? Is that it? Or is there something special about the cup?" Atreus asked.

"It's just... the House Cup, and there is nothing special about it," Tracey said, realizing mid-sentence that the award isn't as exceptional as they were made to believe.

"So, they are pointless then," Atreus replied, to which Tracey giggled while Daphne rolled her eyes.

"Which electives are you taking?" Daphne asked, changing the subject.

"Arithmancy, Care of Magical Creatures, and Study of Ancient Runes," Atreus answered.

"Oh, so you will be sharing Care of Magical Creatures with Blaise and me, and the other two with Daphne. Any reason why you chose those three?" Tracey asked.

"Arithmancy sounds interesting, Care of Magical Creatures because I love animals and Ancient Runes... I want to see what's taught in the class."

"Both Arithmancy and Ancient Runes are one of the hardest classes," Daphne said, not happy with how Atreus treated them as merely entertaining.

"I agree, Arithmancy is complicated, and I haven't read that many books about it, but Ancient Runes? Others might find it hard, but to me, that will be the easiest class."

Atreus seemed confident, but to Daphne, he sounded arrogant as she personally knew how hard Ancient Runes was. However, she didn't say anything as she will find out in the afternoon if his words were the truth or not.

Soon the Slytherin left the Common Room as a large group and made their way to the Great Hall.

On the way, Draco walked over to him and said, "Flamel, I was discussing with a few of our housemates a rumor that spread about three years ago."

All eyes turned on him as he said, "You can just call me Atreus."

Draco smiled with a glint in his eyes. He offered his hand once more to him, thinking that he was making good progress allying with the Flamels. His father would be pleased to hear that.

"And you can call me Draco," he said as they shook hands.

"Anyway, the rumor in question is about the fabled Philosopher's Stone. Apparently, your father had given it to Dumbledore for protection, and it was hidden inside the school. A Professor had desired the magical artifact and tried to steal, only to be stopped by Potter and his filthy friends. The Philosopher's Stone had even ended up being destroyed in the end. I wonder if there is any truth to that?"

Everyone carefully listened to Atreus' response as he frowned, "I know Dumbledore owes a few favours to my dad and mum, but I'm not sure why would dad give him the Philosopher's Stone for protection, and I've seen him use it more than once in the past year."

A nasty smile formed on Draco's face, "I knew it! Gryffindor only won the House Cup back then because they were awarded a large number of points because of this fabricated story. There is no way Potter and his two idiot friends were able to stop a Professor, no matter how useless he was."

They continued towards the Great Hall, and most of the Slytherin discussed how this Potter, who he didn't know about, and his two friends were getting preferential treatment from Dumbeldore.

Atreus just shook his head. When he imagined a place that taught magic, he believed he would find people that are interested in studying and learning magic. Not ones that are... this dramatic. And this was just the first day!

When they reached the Great Hall, a few students were already there, and Atreus even spotted Luna, who excitedly waved at him. He returned the gesture with a smile and sat down at the Slytherin table.

More students trickled in, but when Harry entered, the boy with the rune on his forehead, Draco stood up. Two boys, who were both on the larger side in both height and width, followed after him like loyal dogs.

"Potter," Draco spat out with a sneer looking at Harry.

"Oops," Atreus said, realizing that he had caused quite a bit of trouble for Harry by just answering a question.

"What happened to your glasses? Couldn't afford new ones? Are you planning on spreading other false rumors this year because you are that desperate for popularity?" Draco started firing shots without even allowing Harry to respond.

"Oops indeed," Daphne nodded next to him while enjoying the show.

Soon enough, it escalated into a shouting match, and both sides weren't backing down. Draco's goons were just standing menacingly next to him, but he had a sharp tongue and matched Harry and his two friends on his own. However, the moment a Professor stepped inside the Great Hall, both sides quieted down.

"Saved by the Professors again, Potter," Draco, however, didn't miss the chance to fire one last bullet.

Breakfast began with the appearance of the food. However, shortly after, owls flew into the Great Hall, delivering messages to almost all the students. That wasn't normal on the first day, but usually there wasn't a new student that happened to be the son of Nicolas Flamel.

Daphne also received one, and after reading through it, she looked at Atreus with a frown, "My mother... you've presumably met her once when she was getting my sister, Astoria, her wand."

Atreus thought for a second before remembering the event at Ollivanders, "Oh..." he had ended up offending a wizard family back then, "To be fair, I didn't know there was some specific way of talking with wizard families. I still don't know the proper social etiquette, just the little bit dad told me. Like, treat a lady with respect, and when she offers her hand, gently kiss her knuckles. That's about it."

Daphne seemed amused at his statement and asked, "What have they taught you then?"

"How to hunt, fight, and... magic," Atreus replied as a piece of toast flew into his mouth.

"Yes... I've noticed you are pretty good at the latter," Daphne said, still surprised at how Atreus was doing wandless magic so seamlessly. She wasn't the only one as others as well watched him in wonder. However, Daphne didn't understand why he was taught how to hunt and fight. That didn't make sense to her and made Atreus into an even bigger enigma.

After breakfast, it was time for their first two classes, and Atreus was left severely disappointed. Their History of Magic teacher, Binns, was a ghost, which he thought was incredible. That lasted until the class started, and the Professor began rattling off in a monotonous and sleep-inducing manner.

A majority of the students had just made themselves as comfortable as possible in their seats before dozing off. A few Slytherin had opened up books about other subjects and began studying. The House they were sharing the class with, Grynffidor, had all fallen asleep except for the bushy-haired girl, Hermione. She was also the only one that seemed to be paying attention to the ghost.

Since Atreus wasn't really feeling the need for a nap, he took out a Charms and Potions book from his bag and began reading and preparing for his next classes.

After three dull hours of History of Magic, it finally ended! Binns hadn't even realized more than half his class was sleeping, and the students had to be woken up by their fellow classmates. Atreus just considered skipping this class and possibly spending the time running a few laps to keep up in shape.

Charms was the next class on the list, and again, Slytherin shared it with Gryffindor just like they shared Potions.

Professor Flitwick, a half-goblin that apparently had been a dueling champion, was much better than Binns. He looked excited and happy to teach.

Since it was their first lesson of the year, Flitwick began with a revision of last year, tasking all the students to cast the spells they've learned. Almost all of them did them successfully, with a few hiccups here and there. Atreus didn't know which charms they had learned, but he only needed to see them once before he proceeded to cast them wordlessly and without any wand movements.

"Marvelous! Absolutely marvelous!" Flitwick jumped around in joy. He genuinely seemed to be both impressed and happy by Atreus' achievement.

"10 points to Slytherin for Mr. Flamel's brilliant performance!"

All the Slytherin students smiled in a gloating way as if they were the ones that had cast the charms. The Gryffindors, on the other hand, almost all of them looked at him with anger as if he had wronged them somehow.

What? Atreus was baffled at what happened. In just a single display of magic, he had somehow ended up making enemies with almost all the Gryffindors while pleasing all the Slytherin at the same time.

"Mr. Flamel, would you please explain to the class how you performed the spells wordlessly and without the wand movements?" Flitwick asked in a joyful tone. He seemed to be as interested as the rest of the students.

"Well..." Atreus thought for a second how to explain it, "Words have power, but the main point of the incantations are to help us with our imagination, so we could picture the effect of the spell, something you can do without them. They are not necessary, but they are useful as a crutch."

"And the wand movements... they help us focus our magic, so it creates the desired effect. The keywords are 'help us focus.' With enough repetition and practice, a wizard or a witch could reproduce the desired effect of a spell without the specific wand movements as long as they can focus their magic, imagine the desired effect, and know how their magic works."

"In short, it's a combination of imagination, intent, focus, and knowledge, plus a lot of repetition and practice."

This was the best explanation Atreus was able to come up with that could be useful to the other students. He, however, was a bit different than them since he could feel how magic moves and interacts with an object, so he could just replicate that. Atreus also had a wand that made spellcasting as effortless as breathing.

"5 more points to Slytherin for Mr. Flamel's explanation!" That seemed to have been enough for Flitwick. However, it also served to anger the Gryffindors even more. Yay! He was making enemies without even trying.

The class proceeded after Flitwick helped a few more students with their charms before he began a short lecture. Some of the kids had pulled out quills and were writing down his words, so Atreus decided to do the same. However, he just used his magic to control the quill since he figured he could use this chance to practice. Apparently, that had been the wrong move.

"Professor, aren't Enchanted Quills forbidden?!" Ron, Harry's red-haired friend, stood up and pointed at him.

Atreus sighed and just floated the quill over to Flitwick. The Slytherins angrily sneered at Ron while the Professor flipped it over a few times. Flitwick then returned it back to Atreus and asked, "Can you do that again, Mr. Flamel."

With a nod, Atreus just controlled the quill to write a few words.

"Simply incredible! 10 points to Slytherin for this amazing display of wandless magic!"

This is how Atreus became the Hero of Slytherin and the number one enemy of Gryffindor in just a single class. Great!

Potions followed next with the Head of their House. Snape entered the room and scanned all of the students, his eyes lingering for a split second longer on both Atreus and Harry. He did a quick introduction and opened with a question.

"Mr. Potter, what would I get if I mixed Chinese Chomping Cabbage, Puffer-fish, and Scarab Beetles?"

"I don't know, sir," Harry replied, staring at the Professor with hate.

"Pity. Unprepared...again," Snape was disappointed for yet another year. He wanted to see Harry show that he had inherited more than his mother's eyes, but the boy proved to be like his father once more.

Snape then turned to Atreus, "Mr. Flamel, could you please answer the question as our local celebrity seems to be struggling with it?"

"Skeletal regrowing potion, but if you switch the Chinese Chomping Cabbage with a Squeaking Bean, you can make teeth regrowing potion."

Atreus had spent so much time helping his mum with the various plants in their greenhouses and being taught potions by his dad, he could mix potions by only knowing the ingredients.

"10 points to Slytherin for reading ahead, and 20 more for an innovative idea," Snape said before proceeding to ask Harry a few more questions, which the boy didn't know the answer. He had ended up asking Atreus, who answered them successfully, gaining even more points for Slytherin and more infamy with Gryffindor.

Snape began his lecture with disappointment, not that he showed it. Was he expecting too much from Harry? Was it that hard to read ahead, even just a little bit? At the start of every year, Snape started off by asking HIM questions, so why didn't Harry try to prove him wrong once? Had he really not inherited anything from his mother beside her eyes?

At the end of the class, the Gryffindors quickly left after shooting him one last angry glare while Slytherin sang him praises for earning them over 100 points in a single day.

After leaving the classroom, Harry and his two friends were waiting outside.

"Um, Atreus, can we speak for a moment? Alone," Harry said with a bit of uncertainty in his voice.

Draco seemed to be ready to fire more shots at him, so Atreus quickly accepted, "Sure."

"Be careful, Atreus," Draco said, leering at Harry, "they might be trying to take out the competition."

"Don't worry, I can handle myself," Atreus had to quickly say, and walked away, hoping Harry would follow him. He did, but his two friends came along.

"Um... I wanted to apologize for the Philosopher's Stone," Harry said after they were left the group of Slytherin.

"What for?" Atreus asked.

"I don't know why we are wasting our time with a dodgy snake!" Ron said with a frown.

"Ron, shut up!" Hermione interjected before Harry answered him.

"Well, during my first year, we found out your father had given it to Dumbledore for protection, but that there was also someone after it. It was a... possessed teacher, and he nearly got his hands on it. I..." Harry gagged a bit. "I managed to stop him, but Dumbledore later said the stone had been destroyed."

"You don't have to worry about that," Atreus said and explained after seeing their confused expressions. "I don't believe Dumbledore was ever given the real stone. No matter how close someone is to my dad, he won't give it away for protection as it's safely at..." the words "our private island" died in his throat since that was a secret.

"But Dumbledore..." Harry trusted in the old man's words, and so did his two friends.

"Dad said Dumbledore is probably the closest one with the ability to create a Philosopher's Stone aside from him. Creating a fake one would be super easy for him, and besides," Atreus raised his hand and conjured a red stone before giving it a slight glow with magic. "Dumbledore could've also done this."

Harry didn't know what to say, but Hermione did.

"That's conjuration, right? It's a seventh-year subject, and you did it wandlessly at that. How?"

"It's basically transfiguring something out of thin air, using nothing but your magic," Atreus answered.

Ron muttered something about arrogant snakes under his breath, Harry looked interested, and Hermione fired question after question. She wanted to know everything about the hows and whys. Atreus couldn't even answer some of the questions she was asking, but he did learn that Hermione had a brilliant mind.

Midway through one of her questions, Harry blurted out, "You're not like the other Slytherin."

Ron grumbled under his breath, but even he had to admit that. Atreus hadn't badmouthed the Weasleys, he hadn't made fun of Hermione's blood status, and he hadn't cursed Harry. He had been friendly during the entire conversation.

Atreus just raised his arms in defeat, "I just chose Slytherin because I like snakes! I didn't know everything will be THIS complicated!"

Jor seemed to think it's his time to shine since snakes were mentioned. He popped his head and slithered out of Atreus' clothes.

$Snakes are the best! And I'm the most awesome of them all!$

The three stared at the black noodle with wings on Atreus' head in shock.

"Is-is that a magical creature?" Hermione finally asked, "I don't think the school allows students to own magical creatures as pets."

$I'm no one's pet, bird's nest!$

"Yeah," Atreus scratched Jor on his head to make sure he doesn't jump at Hermione and end up hurting himself, "He's not a pet. Jor's a familiar."

"You can..." Harry gulped, "understand him?"

"Haaaa, yes, I can understand and speak to any magical creature that can talk back," Atreus said with a sigh.

Harry watched Jor for a moment before mustering up his courage to hiss $Hello.$

$Oh, he speaks!$ Jor exclaimed.

$Yesss, I can ssspeak$ Harry replied with a bit more confidence, despite Ron glaring at him strangely.

$Haha, he speaks funny!$ Jor straight up laughed at him.

$Yeah, he needs to work on his accent$ Atreus agreed with the black noodle for once.

Harry and Hermione's jaws dropped as if he hadn't just told them he was able to speak with Jor. Ron, whose expression had become softer, turned into a hateful glare one once more. The red-haired just turned around and stormed off, muttering to himself about corrupt dark wizards.

"Ron!" Harry chased after him, and Hermione was about to follow but quickly turned to him, "It was nice talking with you, Atreus. Sorry about Ron, he... tends to overreact sometimes."

Atreus just lazily made his way through the hallways, thinking that this wasn't what he expected out of a magical school. He just wanted to come to Hogwarts, make some friends, watch the tournament, maybe learn something from the vast library in the school, and hopefully become a man by the end of the year.

As he was walking, Atreus bumped, figuratively, into Daphne. "Flamel!"

"Atreus," he replied, and she looked confused.

"I allowed Draco to call me by my name. You, I already consider a friend, so I would prefer for you to address me that way as well."

Daphne smiled faintly, understanding what he meant. Atreus didn't think of Draco as his friend, yet still allowed Malfoy to address him by his first name. She wondered if he was even aware of how Draco was telling everyone they were already 'best of friends.'

"Ancient Runes starts in ten minutes," Daphne informed him.

"Well, lead the way, Daphne," Atreus replied back with a smirk. Obviously, he didn't even know where the classroom was, as it was his first day.

"Try to keep up, Atreus," Daphne spun around, "and I don't remember giving you permission to call me that."

---

One hour later, they left the Ancient Runes classroom. Daphne, like the rest of the students and even Professor Bathsheda Babbling, was staring at Atreus with wide eyes. When he had told her in the morning that Runes would be his easiest class, she thought he was being arrogant. When she saw his performance in Charms and Potions, she figured that maybe he was well-read and knew a thing or two.

However, Daphne had never even imagined that Atreus was able to read, write, and converse in Ancient Runes. For Merlin's sake, he knew even more than the Professor! The more she learned about Atreus, the more questions Daphne had. He was really an enigma.