sapienti sat [T/13+]

[Irina Zhukov (school)]

Rather Extensive Author's Note: This series of drabbles is Valcenticaverse, and yet, in a way, it isn't. Essentially, it provides glimpses of Stephen's and Taras's backstory that have only been alluded to in this RP. The backstories in question are a lot more detailed than the average character's, mainly because Stephen and Taras hail from Hogwarts School, an old, long-abandoned RP that Kitty, Ann, and I used to frequent.

In the RP, which took place several years after Voldemort's downfall, the British Ministry of Magic had become increasingly totalitarian, and a rather varied group of students banded together to fight them. Taras was the leader of this group, which called themselves the ABC - those Aware of Bribery and Corruption. They were aided by Professor Ironvale, the Ravenclaw Head of House, who covered for them and supervised their meetings in the Room of Requirement under the pretense of teaching them remedial DADA.

The RP never progressed much further than that, but I was still kind of enamored with the idea of it, so I decided to take the 100 Harry Potter Drabbles challenge and write those drabbles as bits and pieces of the lives of the ABC students instead. I've added a lot of characters who weren't in the original RP, mainly because I imagine that the students had classmates unaware of the ABC's existence, but those additional characters are there for flavoring and not much else.

A few last notes: Philippe Vertage was a fifth-year Ravenclaw in the Hogwarts RP, as opposed to the Head of Magical Law Enforcement he is here. All drabbles take place the year before Stephen and Taras arrive at Valcentica unless otherwise stated.

Onward!

SAPIENTI SAT
or, Snapshots

(being a depiction of Life in Hogwarts with an Emphasis on Ravenclaw House,
in a series of Illustrated Drabbles)

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

AN-YI MING, fifth-year Ravenclaw, and Captain of and Beater on the House Quidditch Team.
AN-CHI ZHANG, fifth-year Ravenclaw, and Keeper on the House Quidditch Team.
PHILIPPE VERTAGE, fifth-year Ravenclaw, and Beater on the House Quidditch Team.
STEPHEN KANG, fifth-year Ravenclaw, and Seeker on the House Quidditch Team.
BRANWEN DAVIES, fifth-year Ravenclaw.
JOSHUA DANIELS, fifth-year Ravenclaw.
PHOEBE MACDOUGAL, fifth-year Ravenclaw.
ANDREW VOGEL, fourth-year Ravenclaw, and Chaser on the House Quidditch Team.
CALVIN ADLER, fourth-year Ravenclaw, and Chaser on the House Quidditch Team.
SARAH MURIA, fourth-year Ravenclaw, and Chaser on the House Quidditch Team.
ETHAN THOMPSON, third-year Ravenclaw.
SHANNON LEWIS, first-year Ravenclaw.
VIDYA KAPUR, seventh-year Ravenclaw.
OWAIN GRIFFITHS, fourth-year Gryffindor, and Seeker on the House Quidditch Team.
TARAS PUTSCHIST, sixth-year Gryffindor, and Captain of and Chaser on the House Quidditch Team.
WOLFGANG VON GOETHE, first-year Hufflepuff.
ARCHIE FLEMING, fifth-year Hufflepuff.
LAMBERT ASHTON, fourth-year Hufflepuff, and Seeker on the House Quidditch Team.
NAGENDRA KAPUR, third-year Slytherin, and Seeker on the House Quidditch Team.
OPHIUCHUS BURKE, fifth-year Slytherin, and Beater on the House Quidditch Team.
CHURCHILL KWON, sixth-year Slytherin, and Chaser on the House Quidditch Team.
ETHELINDA GAUNT, seventh-year Slytherin, and Captain of and Keeper on the House Quidditch Team.

PROFESSOR MATTHEWSFIELD, Headmaster.
PROFESSOR IRONVALE, Defence Against the Dark Arts, and Head of Ravenclaw House.
PROFESSOR GRINGOIRE, Charms, and Head of Hufflepuff House.
PROFESSOR REUBALACH, Care of Magical Creatures, and Head of Gryffindor House.
PROFESSOR MACKENZIE, Transfiguration, and Head of Slytherin House.
PROFESSOR JACKSON, Ancient Runes.
PROFESSORS BINNS, SLUGHORN, VECTOR ET AL., various members of the Faculty.

[Irina Zhukov (school)]

i. herbology

An-yi Ming heaves a sigh that goes largely unnoticed in the chaos around her. She has never understood how Hufflepuffs seem to thrive in the greenhouses, buried up to their arms in dirt and plant matter.

A flurry of activity behind her; suddenly Phoebe MacDougal is screaming about a fanged geranium down her robes and Ophiuchus Burke is scurrying away from the scene of the crime.

"Detention, Mr. Burke!" shouts Professor Longbottom, his normally cheerful face red with irritation. "Ten points, and I'll be speaking to your Head of House!"

Then again, thinks An-yi, Hufflepuff doesn't have Herbology with Slytherin.

x. arithmancy

Professor Vector's voice is a soothing monotone and An-yi soon tunes her out. In a matter of minutes, the formulae on her scroll are surrounded by little ink sketches. A surreptitious tap of the wand, and a rather good doodle of Professor Gringoire starts tap-dancing.

"Miss Ming."

An-yi looks up guiltily. Professor Vector purses her lips.

"As you seem to be so diligently taking notes, Miss Ming, perhaps you can tell us the answer to problem nine?"

"Forty-two," blurts out An-yi without quite thinking.

She is stunned when Professor Vector frowns before turning away, somewhat mollified, and continuing her lecture.

xi. history of magic

Everyone thinks History of Magic is boring, but it's common knowledge that the Ravenclaws hate Professor Binns more than anyone else.

Then again, 'hate' is rather weak a word. Perhaps the right one is 'loathe,' or 'abhor.' They file into his room with looks of revulsion on their faces, and file out looking like inmates of Azkaban. The relationship between the Gryffindors of old and the infamous Headmaster Snape have nothing on that between the Ravenclaws and the decrepit old ghost.

In their opinion, someone who manages to make a subject like History of Magic boring isn't fit to teach.

xxv. sorting hat

Wolfgang ist ein kleines Kind und der Hut bedeckt seinen Kopf.

„Interessant," sagt eine Stimme in sein Ohr. Wolfgang springt und seht sich um. Er kann nichts sehen. „Du weißt, dass ich deinen Vater kannte. Er war mutig. Sehr mutig... "

Wolfgang weiß dass. Auch weiß er, dass er in Gryffindor nicht gehört.

„Ich bin nicht mein Vater, Herr Sortierhut," sagt er. "Ich bin nicht mutig."

„Dann was bist du?" fragt der Hut.

„Ich bin mich," sagt Wolfgang. "Ich heiße Wolfgang von Goethe. Ich bin Dichter."

„Sehr gut, Wolfgang von Goethe," sagt der Hut. „Wie deine Mutter. HUFFLEPUFF!"

xciii. headmaster

The sixth-year Ravenclaws are in the common room when Philippe Vertage suddenly says, "I don't like him."

"Who?" asks Joshua Daniels, looking up from his History text. "Gregory the Smarmy?"

"No," says Philippe. "Matthewsfield."

"Professor Matthewsfield," says Stephen Kang, "and what about him? He seems a perfectly decent fellow to me."

Philippe shrugs this off as if it were a fly. "That's just it. He's a bloody saint who popped out of nowhere and became Headmaster in less than two years. It's downright suspicious."

They tell him he's just being paranoid, but for some reason none of them are surprised.

lxxviii. author's choice - howler

Sun Tzu swoops grandly into the Great Hall with the rest of the owls, and silence descends at Ravenclaw Table as he drops a bright red envelope on the unlucky recipient's plate.

An-yi's slightly muffled "Oh, shit" carries quite nicely as she hurriedly dives underneath the table, as does Stephen Kang's whispered "Ten Sickles says that hong bao hasn't got any money in it."

And then, of course, all hell breaks loose. Thankfully, the ensuing verbal tirade is entirely in Chinese, but even the students who don't know the language nod to each other and smirk.

Ming's failed another Arithmancy test.

c. homework

Midnight in the Ravenclaw common room.

"Angie?"

"Mmm?"

"Numerology and Gramatica, page forty-two, problems sixty-one to five hundred and eleven."

An-chi sighs. "Two Chocoballs."

"Two Chocoballs," agrees An-yi readily.

"And three Peppermint Toads."

"Okay, two Chocoballs and three Peppermint Toads."

"And a pound of Honeydukes' best fudge."

A groan. "Do I look like I'm made of Galleons?"

"Three-quarters of a pound, then."

"One quarter."

"Half."

"Half it is. Now - page forty-two?"

"And the next time we go to the Three Broomsticks, you're buying."

"This is an outrage!"

"Look, do you want it or not?"

"Oh, fine. Deal."

"Deal," agrees An-chi, and hands over her Arithmancy homework.

to be continued...

[Aleksei Trevelyan]

That. Is. So. Philippe.

Brilliant job, as always. I can't do drabbles - they require entirely too much discipline. Mine always end up as twelve-page ficthings...take "Undeserving", for example. xD

I wish I could read German and/or trust any online translation services to not mangle what you wrote...

[Ann Xiang]

LOL ARITHMANCY HOMEWORK.

...Not that anybody else here will get it, but no matter. XD

[Irina Zhukov (school)]

xD Thanks for the comments, guys!

Here's a very rough translation of the German drabble:

Wolfgang is a small child and the hat covers his head.

"Interesting," says a voice in his ear. Wolfgang jumps and looks around. He can see nothing. "You know, I knew your father. He was brave. Very brave..."

Wolfgang knows this. He also knows that he does not belong in Gryffindor.

"I am not my father, Mr. Sorting Hat," he says. "I'm not brave."

"Then what are you?" asks the hat.

"I am me," says Wolfgang. "I am Wolfgang von Goethe. I am a poet."

"Very good, Wolfgang von Goethe," says the hat. "Like your mother. HUFFLEPUFF!"

The sentence structure is ridiculously simple and there are probably a ton of mistakes in it, but...yeah. xD;

[Irina Zhukov (school)]

And have a few more drabbles!

ii. muggle studies

Stephen finds Taras in the library after dinner. The Gryffindor is almost hidden behind an enormous mountain of thick, dusty books, and as Stephen nears his table the topmost one wobbles precariously and starts to fall.

Stephen catches the book just in time. "Didn't expect to find you here," he says, balancing it carefully on the top of the pile again.

A muffled grunt from Taras.

"Muggle Studies essay?"

Another grunt.

Stephen grins; sometimes, he thinks, it's good to be Muggleborn. He opens his mouth again, but Taras forestalls him.

"Stephen," he says exasperatedly, "how the hell do microwaves work?"

xxii. kneazle

It all began with a Kneazle.

In hindsight, Davies, MacDougal, and Ming all agreed that they shouldn't even have let Zhang bring it into their dorm. After all, Ming was allergic, and Davies hated cats. But Zhang got Madam Pomfrey to brew a potion for Ming, and she managed to talk Davies into it in the end. And it wasn't as if the Kneazle made much of a mess.

Now, two Nifflers, a Crup, six Puffskeins, a Diricawl, and three Jarveys later, they were starting to think that perhaps agreeing to Combeferre hadn't been the brightest idea in the world.

xxviii. time-turner

In the summer before his fifth year, Stephen Kang asks for a Time-Turner.

Because he is a Ravenclaw who is taking ten O.W.L.s, the Ministry grants his request. He is very careful with it, and he only uses it when necessary.

Four weeks later, Stephen's Time-Turner goes missing for exactly one hour. Moments after that, a team of Unspeakables confiscates it without saying why. Stephen is confused, but he studies hard without it and gets Os on all his exams anyway.

Once in the common room he wonders why his Time-Turner was confiscated. An-yi Ming turns red and says nothing.

xiii. quidditch

"So," says An-yi. "Tactics."

On the Gryffindor team, the word might be greeted with groans, but among the Ravenclaws, the only noise is the rustle of fabric as everyone tries to get closer to the neatly drawn diagram.

"Eisen wasn't nearly aggressive enough last year," says Sarah, and heads nod around her.

"Well, I'm not Eisen," declares An-yi. "You can bet Slytherin won't be playing by the rules. And when in Rome..."

A tap of her wand brings the little x's and o's on the diagram to life, and evil grins slowly spread across the faces of the Ravenclaw team.

liii. chase

The wind roars in Stephen's ears as he and Nagendra Kapur race towards the speck of fluttering gold. He can faintly hear Archie Fleming, as if from a great distance.

" - and oh, I say, splendid pass by Kwon - no, it seems it's been intercepted by Andrew Vogel! Vogel with the Quaffle now, jolly well done - "

Stephen grits his teeth and flattens himself against his broom. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Kapur do the same, and he grins to himself.

Slytherin and Gryffindor have hogged the spotlight long enough. It's time for Ravenclaw to shine.

lxxiii. warn

Kapur is not a Slytherin for nothing, and as they close in on the Snitch his elbow snaps out.

It's exactly what Stephen has been waiting for, and he swerves aside, eliciting boos from the crowd. It almost makes Stephen feel bad - the fifth-year Ravenclaws have always made it a point to be civil to the Slytherins.

Still, there's no time to worry about it now. Kapur has gained half a broom's length on the Snitch, but as he lunges forward, Vertage's voice rings out.

"DUCK!"

Something brushes the top of Stephen's head, and Kapur drops like a stone.

lxxxvi. daring

"You could have killed me!" gasps Stephen, barely noticing the Snitch in his hand and the cheering of the crowd behind him.

"No, I could have killed you," says An-yi as the rest of the Ravenclaw team descends upon the Seeker and the two Beaters. "Which is why I let Philippe have the, ah, honors."

"I had no idea your plan was this dangerous," mutters Stephen, his voice muffled by the group hug.

"It worked, didn't it?" says An-yi dismissively. "Anyway, Philippe's the one who's got to worry now. Vidya's going to murder him for taking out her little brother."

[Arlene Sainz]

I am laughing at the most random things right now. Someone want to explain to me why I laughed at Taras's microwave outburst? Besides the fact that it was really funny?

Anyway, brilliant. That is all really good.

[Aleksei Trevelyan]

...hahaha, Philippe.

And I wonder what An-yi did in that hour. Hmm...*thinks*