The m sunlight poured through Hogwarts' tall windows onto the old stone hallways, marking the dawn of a new day with its warm, golden light.

  The castle was already buzzing with life as young witches and wizards made their way through the corridors, some walking leisurely, others hurrying along, their robes swishing behind them on their way to the Great Hall for breakfast. Their chatter was cheerful and lively, much of it still revolving around the gra from the night before.

  And at the same time, ihe Alchemy professor's office, Maverick utting the finishing touches on the lesson pn for his first css for ter today.

  His schedule wasn't particurly busy. The Magical Sce css for fifth years, held at ten o'clo the m, was only scheduled three times a week, while the Alchemy css for freshmen at two o'clo the afternoon ran four days a week. Therefore pared to other professors, his teag hours be said to be quite flexible, as he never had to teach more than two csses a day—at least, not this year.

  And true to his word, the Headmaster arranged for his csses to include all four houses together, uhe normal practice of pairing two houses per css. Dumbledore had ehat Maverick was assigwo spacious s, each rge enough to aodate aire grade, sparing him the hassle of stantly setting up and pag away materials for each subject.

  He cast a quice at the digital-looking clo the wall and saw that it was still breakfast time. Soon, the students would be heading to their first csses, aill had two hours before his own began.

  Leaning back, he settled more fortably into his seat, his mind briefly recalling the events after the previous evening's ceremony. The ba had gone much better than he expected, and he leased by the overwhelmihusiasm that followed his little speech.

  As soon as the ceremony ended, while the students were escorted to their on rooms and the teachers returo their duties, he instead of staying at the school, used the Floo work for a quick visit to his home.

  This wasn't a special privilege solely for him, as he had now e to uand that every professor had their own private Floo point as well in their office. Yet another little detail that differed from the inal story, as he couldn't recall J.K. Rowling ever mentioning this in her books. Or perhaps it had beeioned, and he simply couldn't remember.

  Bae in London, Maverick spent the rest of the evening with his parents and sister, catg up on things around the house. More importantly, he wao hear about little Sarah's first day at school. This was the main reason for his quick visit, as he didn't wao think he had fotten su important day.

  To add to the excitement, he gave his family a little show, sharing the atmosphere of Hogwarts during the opening ceremony. Needless to say, they were all impressed by the grandeur of it all.

  Finally, wheime came to retire for the night, he sank into the fort of his owo sleep, before returning to school after breakfast today m.

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  The castle was never dull, always alive with the hum of student activity throughout the day. One could always spot some roaming the corridors, bags swinging over shoulders, books clutched tightly, and versations flowing about everything from Quidditch to the timetable.

  Maverick arrived at his ahead of everyone else. After making a small adjustment to the seating arra, he sat fortably on the edge of his desk, one foot on the floor and the ently swinging, waiting for the students to arrive.

  His was arranged a bit differently from the typical Hogwarts yout. The desks were ly arranged in rows, each row slightly ined starting from the sed to provide a better view.

  A rge bckboard domihe front wall, while the professor's desk featured a rge globe of Earth, surrounded by simple stific looking instruments like pendulums in various lengths, a few meticulously pced gears and levers, and a colle of metal rods, each marked with measurements.

  The walls were adorned with ented charts featuring simple diagrams of elements that shifted and ged, alongside basic drawings illustrating fual cepts like motion, energy, and force. The room felt both modern and magical, a seamless blend of two worlds that perfectly suited the course to be taught there, where magid sce coexisted in harmony.

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  The students soon begaering the , each casting a curious g him as they noticed him leaning leisurely oeacher's desk. He was dressed in a brown long-sleeve shirt, loosely tucked into bck trousers, and greeted each student with a small nod and a friendly smile, projeg a fide inviting preseo make them feel more fortable.

  He soon began to notice that the number of studeering had surpassed the actual number who had chosen the course as aive. Most of them were seniors, with a few he was sure were from the freshman batch sorted into houses the night before.

  The stares directed at him only grew more frequent, and the witches, in particur, seemed to care little about hiding their curiosity. He could hear their whispers in hushed tones without even relying on his Magical-Sense as they found their seats. He didn't o strain his ears to know what they were saying—it was mostly a mix of curiosity about the new professor, specutions about his background, and, of course, the iable discussions about his appearance.

  More and more students trickled in, and to his surprise, the room quickly filled beyond his expectations. Some were familiar faces, like the two Slytherin witches he had met orain and Roger Davies, who sat at the very back of the css. Two redheads who looked alike were also there.

  The little miss know-it-all sat at the very front, as if she were one of the students who had actually taken the elective. Moreover, she didn't seem to remember seeing him orain—or perhaps it was Tracy's mouthful, which had made her tear up on the spot, that caused her to nister everyone else who had sat in the at the time.

  The additional students sitting in the css didn't trouble him, though, in fact, he leased to see suterest. However, he didn't yet realize that most of the extras were witches, nor did he suspect that their main reason for attending wasn't to actually learn anything about sce.

  As the clo the wall chimed the hour, the st few students hurried to their seats, and a hush fell over the room. He straightened his rexed posture, pushing himself off the desk and walking to the front. The was quiet now, filled with expet faces.

  "Well, good afternoon to you all," he said, keeping his voice fide inviting, a little something he picked up from the old goat leading the school. "Let's begin."

  However, just then, the doors swung open once again, and in walked a few people Maverick wasn't expeg. Headmaster Dumbledore himself, along with his deputy, the Arithmancy professor, and Professor Flitwick. They all smiled at him in unison, the same expression as if they had practiced it before ing in.

  "Please, don't mind us," Dumbledore said with that characteristic twinkle in his eye. "We're just a few curious souls who just so happen to have some free time... and you did say aerested in joining your css was most wele yesterday."

  Maverick arched an eyebrow, then shrugged and gave them an inviting nod, gesturing with his hand for them to take a seat as well.

  "Please, it'll be my pleasure to have such distinguished 'students' attending my lesson..." He chuckled.

  The rest of the students, however, now seemed a little stiffer, especially the extra atteheir previously easygoing expressions had ged, with some subtly tugging at each other's robes and exging gnces, as if they were already regretting stepping into the the moment the lineup of teachers appeared.

  It was bit of a funny se, but he quickly turned his focus back to the task at hand.

  "Before we get started, let me introduce myself," he began, subtly amplifying his voice to ensure he had everyone's attention. "I'll keep it short, as I'm sure most of you have heard a thing or two about me by now."

  A small smile pyed on his lips. "But for those of you who haven't, my name is Maverick Caesar. I was born here in Britain to two wonderful, amazing people with absolutely no magi them... hat I know of in the family liher."

  "I have pleted multiple levels of Muggle education, and pleted my magical studies alongside it."

  He paused briefly before tinuing, "What many of you might not know is that... I actually homeschooled the ey of OWLs as curriculum..."

  The students exged curious gnces, and a some murmured uheir breath. This was something very fn to the British wizarding unity where the idea of homeschooling wasn't really a thing.

  He tinued, pag slowly from one side of the room to the other. "My magical mentors were Simon Walker, Sarah Walker, and Edward Garling... and finally, took my OWLs as at Ilvermorny School of Magi America..."

  He paused, stopping at the ter before turning to face the css, his eyes sweeping across the students. "Magic... it has fasated me from the day I awake, just as I'm sure it has for all of you. Yet, even after disc I was a wizard, the things I lear Muggle schools, the curiosities I grew, the greatness of sce... it never left my mind."

  The students and teachers all saw Maverick's expression grow more passionate and thoughtful. "It was my curiosity for both that eventually brought me here, as a teacher at this wonderful school of magic." He cast a quice at the teachers seated at the back, his gaze pausing briefly on Dumbledore, before a small, appreciative nod.

  The had fallen silent, all giving their full attention to him. This was a little trick he had picked up from his own teachers, a small story before the lesson to capture the students' focus.

  He allowed the moment of stillo hang in the air for a short while, rexing his expression as he slipped his hands into his trouser pockets.

  "Sce..." he began, pausing with a chuckle. "I'll try my best not to make this css dull... especially for those of you from Muggle backgrounds who already know a thing or two." He paused, gng briefly at a few students, his eyes passing by little miss Gryffindor, whose eyes shone brighter in tration than anyone else in the css.

  "This will be a css of sd magid trust me, when they meet... that's when the real magic begins..." He gave a small wink to the whole css, just enough to spark their curiosity.

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  Author's Note:

  Just a quick update — up to Chapter 106 is already avaible on P AT r30n!

  PAT r30n [.] / RyanFic