Chapter 7: Setteling in

"For now, I'll stay here and self-study." Dan decided in the end. "I think there will be a spare room in this castle to hide my existence from the students. May I know what classes I need to attend? Or, I guess, study."

Dumbledore nodded. "Yes, you may, but I think it's best to continue this conversation in my office, we've taken enough time from the professors." After short goodbyes and good night wishes, Dan remained in the company of Dumbledore and Minerva, who took him to the castle.

The closer Dan got to the imposing structure, the more he felt like the magic of the castle was filling his veins with its essence. He could safely say that he had never felt better.

Minerva cast an invisibility spell on him – which he was going to learn as soon as he could – and the three of them walked through the main gate and into the intertwining stone corridors of the magical castle. Dan openly stared around, watching the moving portraits of wizards, witches, knights and other people that adorned the walls of the passageways. The moving stairs made him stop in shock, and he silently decided that he would teleport to different floors when needed.

There were a lot of interesting little things in the castle and completely unexpected things that no one in their right mind would think of bringing into their home, let alone a school full of children. After all, who puts medieval weapons on display where kids can get them? Dan will be very surprised if no one has cut off a limb or two by accident.

The soft light from the torches illuminated their path all the way to Dumbledore's office. Where the old man gave him a list of required books for the first three years of study. Minerva said that the next morning, they would go to Diagon Alley, where Dan, in a heavy disguise, could buy all the necessary things for the school – fortunately, the Hogwarts fund for poor students had enough money inside.

Of all the things he needed to buy, Dan protested the robes the most, at least because no one should see him, especially since the student's robe would look strange on the monster's body and give others a clue about his situation. Luckily, Minerva agreed to visit the shop of a Muggle-born witch who sold Muggle clothing made from magical fabrics.

In addition to clothing, he would need a cauldron, a set of crystal phials, another set of brass scales, a telescope, textbooks on Astronomy, Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, History of Magic, Potions, and Transfiguration, which were mandatory courses. For electives, Study of Ancient Runes, Arithmancy and, strangely enough, Divination seemed like the best choice for him, but he would look at the professors first before choosing a subject.

Dan was told that he was allowed to bring his own pet, but he decided that Mantis was enough. The little guy sat on his shoulder to look around, gradually losing his shyness. But the main question of this conversation remained in the wand.

"Uh-huh. Say it again, why can't I buy a wand from Ollivander?" Dan asked, staring into Dumbledore's eyes.

The Headmaster sighed heavily and began to explain a second time. "The Ministry of Magic takes the sale and purchase of wands very seriously. Each underage wizard's wand is overlaid with what we call The Trace, which shows where and when the student has used magic. If you buy a wand from Ollivander's shop, you will definitely get a quality product, but along with that, you'll get the Ministry's attention." The way Dumbledore said 'Ministry' made Dan feel dirty. It was as if the word itself was a curse. "I'm afraid if the Department of Creature Relations finds out about your existence, they'll hunt you down even though your intelligence and base is quite human. So we'll have to find another way to get a wand for you."

They only finished talking when the clock struck midnight and Minerva decided to show Dan to a room where he would stay for the time being. Descending the revolving stairs in the Director's Tower, they arrived at the fourth floor. Minerva led him through secret passages, taking short cuts here and there, and ended up in the North passage far left from the library. At least that's what Minerva said.

McGonagall and Dan stopped in front of a portrait of a frowning middle-aged man. He sat at the table and read a particularly long sheet of parchment, but it was impossible to make out exactly what was written there. Professor turned to look at Dan, avoiding his eyes.

"Behind the Briton Graham painting is your room. Usually, it's reserved for the young Lords of their Houses, who had to take on the burden of running the family before they left Hogwarts, but we don't have those right now." She explained. "Mr. Graham, if you please?"

Graham's portrait muttered something to itself and laid the parchment on the table. He looked at Minerva and then at Dan, not even surprised by his appearance – the Professor removed his invisibility when they reached the portrait. "What do I see? I don't think this apprentice is suitable for the position of a Lord. The clothes don't fit." Dan chuckled at these absurd words. There were many things about his appearance that didn't suit a Lord. "But it's not my place to meddle in the affairs of the living. Password?"

"You can choose," McGonagall added to Dan. "Just please try to avoid especially… Strong expressions."

Dan nodded and thought for a second. With a shrug, Endermen's tongue came out of his mouth again, "The living shall envy the dead."

The man nodded and the portrait he was painted on swung open, allowing Dan to look inside. The room wasn't all that impressive, it lacked a personal touch, leaving the decor almost non-existent.

Behind the portrait was a short corridor that opened into a fairly large room that could only be called an office. An empty bookshelf, a heavy looking dark oak table, a chair and a terry rug on the floor. Lilac color.

"Your private chambers and showers are on the left side of the room. I'd say it's against the rules for you to let other students sleep in here, but…" She pointedly remained silent, still unable to decide exactly how to deal with Dan.

"I'm well aware about my own situation, Professor McGonagall." Dan chuckled. "I doubt my Hogwarts training will be filled with new friendships."

Bending down to go through the low pass, Dan took a step forward but stopped when he heard Minerva's voice again. "For all it's worth, Mr. Khromov, I hope your time here will be the start of something good."

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She didn't want to say she was sorry for everything life had thrown at Dan. During a long conversation in Dumbledore's Office, she realized that Dan was not the kind of person who wanted pity. He accepted his situation and had already started looking for a solution to the problems. Dan didn't want to hear an apology; he was more practical than that.

"... Thank you, Professor," he said softly and for the first time Minerva heard a truly human voice from Dan.

The portrait swinged closed behind the black figure of the Enderman and Minerva could only sympathize with her new student.

"Black, Dementors, and now this…" She turned and walked back to her sleeping chambers. "At least this year promises to be very interesting."

-=-=-=-=-=-

A visit to Diagon Alley took up the smaller part of the next day. Dumbledore, as the only one of the Professors who had no classes, disguised himself with Dan in order to draw as little attention as possible from random wizards. It's not that Dan himself doesn't attract attention with his enormous height. Now he looked like an unusually tall man with dark skin and sunglasses to reduce the chance of eye contact.

He'll have to find something else to hide his eyes.

Because they had visited the clothing store first, Dan was now the proud owner of black slacks, comfy sneakers, a gray sweater with too long sleeves for his "camouflage" uniform, and an assortment of underwear. He was sure that he would look like an idiot when the spells hiding his appearance were lifted.

Purchasing books and other items –and some rather disgusting-looking potion ingredients – was fast enough, as was finding the right clothes for Dan. Given that he didn't even have a chance to visit Ollivander, they didn't waste a second choosing a wand.

"So how do we solve the wand problem, old man?" Dan asked, avoiding Dumbledore's name.

"Well, there are several options." Dumbledore replied with a smile. "We can find you one of the wands that were lost by their owners during Hogwarts. I remember the house elves talking about a special room where they put away all lost or no longer needed things." For some reason, talking about house elves in Dan's presence, but Dan didn't know why. "But this will only serve as a temporary replacement at best. For a permanent wand, we'll likely have to turn to personal wand-crafters."

Dan listened as Dumbledore told various facts about the creation of half-ear wands, thinking about his position. Last night was hard for him. He teleported from his room deep into the forest, where the tantrum finally hit him like a wagon. Suffice to say, a new clearing and several fallen trees have appeared in the Forbidden Forest. He thought he scared the sleeping wolf that was nearby, but Dan was too blinded by his emotions to care.

"- usually, the wood of an old tree grown in a place filled with magic, and part of an animal: a phoenix feather, dragon heartstring and the like are used for wands. Although I remember one rather interesting wand made from dragon bone." Dumbledore droned on, "I still don't know how Grigorevich did it, but he was always known for his experiments."

Dan blinked and looked up at Dumbledore. "Bone? I was expecting something like a tooth, at least losing one wouldn't hurt a living thing that much."

Especially since the dragon's tooth will be easier to get than the dragon's bone.

"You're certainly right about that, but the most appropriate wand materials aren't always the most obvious." He said.

Shrugging, Dan continued to follow Dumbledore to the last store for the day, though the place they were walking to could hardly be called a store.

As the old man said, the best chance to get a wand would be to turn to personal wand-crafters. And they were heading to one such institution. The store owner was indebted to Dumbledore for something – something that Dan chose not to ask about – and the Headmaster decided to use this debt to get Dan his first wand.

'Dumbledore is spending too much time and money on me.' Dan noticed. 'Have I caught his interest, or is he just trying to deprive the Dark Side of another recruit? It's not that I want to join these psychopaths…'

But no matter how much Dan looked at Dumbledor's back, he couldn't understand his true intentions. 'Time will tell.'

In the meantime, he had a chance to get his first wand, which could very well be a success. Maybe. Most likely. Probably.

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