Wizards of the World 1: The Australian Institute of Magic, Australia

Wizards of the World 1: The Australian Institute of Magic, Australia

1: The Wizard

Professor Cowarn stood in his study, looking out at the sun setting over the outback lands. The sun was setting both the land and sky in fire, highlighting the large canyon - the famous King's Canyon in the Northern Territory - in front of the school. He sighed and removed his glasses, wiping them on the pair of jeans he was wearing before putting them back on.

"Bring him in," he said, turning to cross back to his large desk and sitting down, leaning down to the small Muggle fridge hidden under the desk.

He opened the door and pulled out two cans of beer and shut the door, putting one in a soft foam cover, a stubbie holder, and leaving the other in the sun to warm. It would not do to annoy the man about to enter his office. Not with the connections he held.

The portrait above the door dropped the vial he was holding in the cauldron in his painting. He dived out of the frame a second before the cauldron blew up. The one next to him, painted in front of a famous pub in the nearby Wizarding village of Locagga insulted someone behind him and had a beer bottle thrown at him. Punches were exchanged in a hasty barfight. Cowarn smiled and stood as the door opened.

"Professor Cowarn?" the man - middle-aged and exhausted-looking - said, closing the door behind him and sitting down. He pulled off his green robes, revealing jeans and a singlet underneath. It was very hot in the office, just like in the rest of the castle. "I never remember that it's hotter than hell here during the winter in England," the man said, and took his beer from the table. "I don't know how you do it."

"Do what?"

"Drink the beer cold, live in a place hotter than the middle of the earth."

"Well," Cowarn said, cracking the can open and taking a swig, smacking his lips in relief, "you get used to it."

The man smiled. "I hope I get used to it quickly." The man's face became tight and his lips became thin. "They're after me again."

Cowarn sighed, putting down his empty can and pulling another one out of the fridge when his guest cracked his open. "I take it you want me to hide you. Again."

"No," the man said, smiling thinly, "I want a job. I heard you have an opening."

"I didn't think that you liked Transfiguration enough for you to volunteer to teach it," Cowarn said, finishing his second can.

"Not for Transfiguration." The man smiled properly. "Potions."

"Potions?"

"Potions." The man nodded and sat back in his chair, Vanishing the empty cans. "I want to teach Potions."

Cowarn looked uncomfortable, and pulled out two more cans, handing one to the man and cracking his forth open. "I don't think I can do that."

"Why not?"

"Well," the Headmaster said, his hand shaking, "you don't have the experience for Potions."

"During the war I used a lot more potions than I did transfiguration," the man said, sitting forward in his seat. "I can teach your students all about Muggle medications, field medications, healing potions, and offensive potions. Please, let me have this job."

The Headmaster sighed and scratched his head. "We need a new Head of Sydney House as well," he said, downing another can and crushing the empty in his hand. "If you take the Potions post, you have to be the Head of Sydney House as well."

The man nodded and stood. "In that case, I accept, and I shall be here on September the first to start the new school year."

"Our school year starts on the first of February," Cowarn said, catching the man before he left. "You can start at the beginning of the second Semester, on July twenty-first."

The man nodded and turned to leave.

"I look forward to working with you," Cowarn said after the door closed, "Mr. Lupin."