Not going to lie, I'm pretty proud of myself for getting this out within a week of the last chapter. Let's see if I can keep this pace up, shall we?

Chapter 5: Magic and Science: Put 'em Together and What Have You Got?

"Ahh! Sorry! I can be such a klutz sometimes!" Allen bowed to a bewildered Nearly Headless Nick, before realising that the figure in front of him was actually shimmering silver in colour.

"Oh, hey! The Wizarding World has ghosts? It's kind of nice to see a soul in this form that isn't suffering. I'm Allen Walker, nice to meet you." Allen stuck out a hand in greeting.

Nick opened and closed his mouth a few times in shock before hesitantly returning Allen's handshake. As the hands clasped, one gloved, the other translucent, Nick looked down at the contact with something akin to awe on his face.

"T-Thank you! I don't know what to say…" Nick's eyes were beginning to well up with tears as he continued to stare, transfixed, at his hand. "It's been so long since… Well. Thank you!" And with that, Nick abruptly turned and floated quickly up the marble staircase, hiding his face.

"Well, he was nice!" Allen remarked as he waved Nick goodbye. "Odd, but nice."

The people in the Great Hall just stared at Allen, expressions befuddled.

"Did you just…" Ron began, flabbergasted.

"But that's impossible…" Hermione breathed.

"Uh, you guys ok? I'd say you look like you've just seen a ghost, but at this point I doubt that'd have its usual impact."

"You can touch ghosts?" Hermione exclaimed, her eyes bright at the revelation. "You just touched him. You didn't go through!"

"Oh, is that not normal?"

"No." The trio deadpanned at the same time.

"I've lived around magic my whole life and I've never seen it happen," Ron added, shaking his head. "Mental."

"And I've never read about it. Not once!" Hermione had started pacing.

"Ok. How about we just accept that Allen is weird and move on?" Harry suggested, trying a bright smile in the face of all the confusion. He really wanted to get away from the stares the four of them were garnering from the rest of the student body. After all his time at Hogwarts, he had developed something of a phobia about being in the spotlight of everyone's attention.

"I'm in favour of Harry's plan," Allen pointed out. "I'm starving."

And Allen walked quite happily into the Great Hall with all the grace of someone that hadn't just defied the laws of every kind of physics one could think of – magical or otherwise.

Word of Allen's disregard to the laws of nature spread around Hogwarts like FiendFire. Some were saying that it was a prank Allen had devised in coordination with the Gryffindor House ghost in order to impress the school or to gain some attention. Others said that he was the next all-powerful seer that had the ability to communicate with spirits beyond the grave. Allen even overheard one girl vehemently arguing that the only logical explanation was that Allen was God. That one had made him laugh.

In fact, all of the rumours, whilst making him uncomfortable, amused him to no end. At least, until he heard a girl on the Ravenclaw table with dirty blonde, curly hair, telling her neighbour that Allen had to be an Exorcist. He had no idea if the girl actually knew anything about real exorcists, but her proximity to the truth was enough to sober him up pretty quickly.

Of course, an angry Japanese man scowling at him over the breakfast table also had that sobering effect.

"You blew our cover. It's the second fucking day and you blew our fucking cover." Kanda snarled at Allen under his breath. "Do you even take this seriously, you stupid Moyashi."

Allen bristled and hissed back, "Of course I take this seriously BaKanda! How was I supposed to know that being able to touch ghosts isn't normal? I bumped into him. It was an accident!"

"Accident or no, doesn't change the fact that someone just asked me if I carried around Holy Water, or if that was just a myth." Kanda closed his eyes and let out a gruff sigh. He looked as if he would like to say a great deal more to Allen, but was interrupted by the arrival of Lenalee.

"Hey guys, morning! Allen, do you know why those Hufflepuff boys over there are trying to add your name into their new rendition of the Ghost Buster's theme song? It's quite catchy, I have to say, but-"

"Moyashi here went and broadcasted to the world that we're Exorcists"

"I didn't broadcast! I merely ran into a ghost. It could happen to anyone-"

"No, it couldn't. That's the whole problem here you moronic sprout!"

"Who's a moron, you-"

"Mornin' fella's. You two are as lively as ever!" Lavi had approached the arguing pair looking annoyingly untroubled.

"You're in a good mood this morning, Lavi," Lenalee remarked.

"Yeah, well. I'm getting along pretty well with the Ravenclaws. They're actually pretty cool, y'know!"

"Right, well. I guess you should probably know that Allen accidently bumped into a ghost this morning and now the whole school is talking about it and coming up with various rumours. Unfortunately, a few of these rumours are actually pretty close to the mark."

"Oh! So that's why that guy asked me what the fastest way to make a salt circle was!"

"Probably. Sorry," Allen looked sheepish now.

"Nah, don't worry about it Moyashi-chan. Honest mistake. And it's not like we have to keep it a secret per say, remember?"

"It's Allen, but thanks I guess."

"Anyway. The timetables are coming out soon. We're being put in the same class group, despite our varying ages," Lavi said, bringing a hand up to his chin thoughtfully, "How Dumbles has gotten away with that is anyone's guess."

"He seems really worried about that particular year, for some reason," Lenalee mused, "I wonder why."

"It's something to do with that Harry Potter kid," Kanda added, drawing the three other exorcist's bewildered attention to him. "What, I have ears. I hear things."

"Harry? As in Harry from our dorm? What has he done?"

"When he was one year old, he was targeted by this Lord Voldemort for some, unknown, reason. Voldy broke into his house, murdered his mum and dad and tried to kill Harry. But it failed. The curse rebounded, leaving Harry with nothing but that lightning bolt scar. He's the first and only person to have ever survived that spell. It made him a hero. The Wizarding World worships him as the Boy-Who-Lived. But I've heard that he hates it." Lavi stated this with is eyes vaguely empty, like he was reciting it all from some scrap of information he had memorised.

Allen thought back to his messy-haired roommate with his rather quiet demeanour. How he joked with his friends. How he looked upset when that boy, Seamus, abruptly left the dormitory that morning. How he had quickly tried to usher them all out of the way of attention when Allen had inadvertently made magical history. Suddenly, Allen knew, that Harry definitely hated that he was the Boy-Who-Lived.

"That's horrible," Allen muttered, while Lenalee nodded in agreement, "To glorify the orphaning of a child. That's… not right."

"I'll agree with you on that one. But can we really say something like that considering how the Order recruits children to win them their war?" Lavi harshly pointed out, any trace of his normal light demeanour gone.

The exorcists had no response for that.

Lavi cleared his throat, trying for a lighter tone, "Anyways, guys. I should get back to my own table. Breakfast looks good, right?"

Grasping at the change of topic, Allen nodded happily, holding up a piece of sausage speared on his fork, "Yep! It's great! Almost as good as Jerry's! Though I have to admit the floating candles are making it hard for me to concentrate on the good food – it's bringing back too many painful memories for me…"

Lenalee paled but Kanda just rolled his eyes while Lavi laughed, "Yeah, I only saw the end of that particular tango with Roade, but you certainly looked worse for the wear, my dear Moyashi-chan-"

"- It's Allen-"

"- Though I guess now you know what happens when you play with fire!" Still laughing, Lavi walked over to the Ravenclaw table while Allen scowled at his back.

"That wasn't even a proper pun, BakaUsagi."

"Allen, you took Runes?"

The timetables had just come out and Allen, Kanda and Lenalee were sitting with Hermione, Ron and Harry at the breakfast table.

"Yeah," Allen answered Hermione's question with his usual smile, "I speak a few languages and my adoptive father taught me some pretty rare symbols when I was younger. I figured it'd be an interesting subject for someone like me."

The trio didn't notice Kanda's and Lenalee's slight stiffening at the part about Mana.

"Well, that's great!" Hermione beamed, "I'd love to have a friend to take Runes with. The closest friend I have in that class is a Ravenclaw girl, but I get the feeling she doesn't like me for some reason…"

"Probably because you beat her in the class while still being a Gryffindor," Ron suggested.

"Oh, I'm sure that's not it." Hermione brushed it off awkwardly. "So what else are you guys taking?"

Allen scanned the timetable, "Well, I'm doing Runes, Transfiguration, Potions, Charms, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Astronomy, History of Magic, Herbology, Care of Magical Creatures, Divination, and of course Object Bewitchment with Devil-san."

"Devil-san?" Harry murmured to Lenalee.

"Don't ask," she quietly replied.

"Sounds interesting, though I question your inclusion of Divination…" Hermione commented, "How about you, Kanda?"

Kanda glared at the girl before grimacing slightly and turning his glare to Lenalee, who Allen was sure had just kicked Kanda under the table. And her kicks hurt. From Lenalee's sickly sweet smile, he could confirm his suspicions.

"I'm doing Transfiguration, Charms, History of Magic, Potions, Defence, Astronomy, Herbology, Object, and Individual study."

"Individual study?" Ron said in awe, "That's a thing?"

"It is now," Kanda said wryly, "I had to twist a few arms to make it happen – metaphorically speaking, of course."

Allen could deduce from Kanda's satisfied smirk that it had most definitely not been metaphorically, but he decided to save his new friends from that particular piece of information.

"That sounds so interesting! I wonder if I could do something like that," Hermione, Allen had now learnt, was endlessly fascinated with any form of new information. "What is it you'll be doing, exactly?"

"Combat training, mainly."

The table went quiet.

"Subtle," Allen replied sarcastically, "And you said I was broadcasting."

Kanda just shrugged.

Lenalee piped up to break the tension, "Well I'm doing Transfiguration, Potions, Charms, Astronomy, Herbology, History of Magic, Defence, Object, Arthrimacy and Divination."

Hermione smiled brightly at her, if a little confused by the complete juxtaposition between her two elective choices.

"Well you guys share a lot of classes with at least one of us, so we're happy to show you to your classrooms," Harry said, looking between the exorcists, before adding as an afterthought, "Except for Kanda's combat thing, can't really help you there, sorry."

Kanda rolled his eyes.

"But first up is something we all have together, anyway," Hermione pointed out, "See, Object Bewitchment with Professor Cross."

Allen banged his head down on the table.

"You brats will be the bane of my existence for the next year."

The silence was deafening before a few students laughed nervously, thinking that this was obviously a joke.

Cross shot them a dirty look and sneered, "I'm not joking, you idiots, my God. What do you learn at this school to have no understanding of common interactions with humans? If I'm joking, then you'll know I'm fucking joking." He practically shouted that last part, causing most of the students in the room to jump in sheer fear.

Allen sat at his desk, his hand pinching the bridge of his nose. He couldn't say he had expected any less, but he had definitely hoped for the best. Guess he was wrong.

Hermione, Ron and Harry sat stock-still, looking wide eyed up at the audacity of their new teacher. Not even Moody had been this violent, and he was a Death Eater, for Merlin's sake.

"This class will teach you the basics of how to bewitch objects. We'll start with the simple stuff – getting toy cars to find their way out of a maze, then move on to more complex subject matter like- what is it"

Hermione jumped in her seat, her hand still raised in the air, "U-umm. I was wondering what, exactly, was the difference between this class and charms?" She finished tentatively.

Cross examined her for a moment before replying, "You're lucky that wasn't a completely stupid answer, girl –"

" – Hermione Granger – "

"- Granger, yes. The answer I'd give you is that charms is all about making objects bend to your will, and while, to an extent, this class will do that, object bewitchment is more about giving the object its own life. You can give an object a mind of its own, so it can make its own choices. Charms have to be used with the Wizard's exact use in mind and it cannot adapt to new situations, the Wizard has to change it him or herself. You see?"

Hermione nodded, "So the more complex subjects would be- "

"Essentially, giving sentient life to an inanimate object. The most commonly known example of this is a golem."

Cross then turned to Allen, his face harsh.

"Hand him over, Idiot Apprentice."

Allen stared back defiantly. "What're you going to do to him?" His hand hovered protectively over his bookbag.

Cross snorted, "You're too damn sentimental. I'm not going to do anything to him, just using him as a demonstration."

Allen hesitated before slowly opening his bag and pulling out what looked to be a larger version of a golden snitch. At least, that's what it did look like until wings, teeth and a tail sprouted from the golden ball, so it sat staring up at Cross in what seemed to be recognition.

Allen really didn't want to hand over Tim, but the look in Cross' eyes was one he had seen many times before. It was a look that said 'give me the thing or I will break every bone in your body, Idiot Apprentice.' It was the look most commonly used when Cross wanted money off Allen to go off on his nightly 'adventures'.

Cross, or Devil-san, Allen mentally corrected, held up Tim for the rest of the class to see.

"This is the golem, Timcampy. In essence, he's just a bunch of scrap metals I found lying on the side of the road. But with the right enchantment, Timcampy has taken on a personality and a life of his own. If you doubt me, just ask that idiot over there," he jutted a thumb out in Allen's direction, "Tim's basically his best friend. Not that I'm surprised that he couldn't actually make any real friends…"

Allen scowled and Lenalee patted him comfortingly on the shoulder. That phantom-of-the-opera-wannabe bastard.

The class looked on in fascination as Tim darted back and forth around Cross' head while Cross just nodded impatiently muttering a short, "Yes, yes, I understand."

"So," he turned his attention back to the class, "first things first. Theory time, kiddies." He cracked a manic grin, "To know how to give a mind of its own to an object, you actually have to understand things about the human mind. Observe."

The blackboard behind Cross shuddered momentarily before words started appearing out of nowhere. They started in the middle of the board and worked its way out, like a spider web. In a couple of seconds, the board was filled with complicated diagrams of the human brain, with labels pointing to the different lobes and regions. There was a section at the top left side of the board with the title: Action Potential: Generation and Propagation.

The students looked at the squiggles blankly. Only Allen seemed undeterred by the information. Though he was sure if Lavi was in that particular class, he would have been fine with it, too.

"Well. What are you waiting for? Copy it down."

Hannah Abbot raised a tentative hand in the hair, "Ah, Professor Cross, Sir. I don't quite understand. Why do we have to know about muggle neuroscience to be able to perform magic-"

"That," Cross interrupted harshly, "Is an example of a stupid question. Isn't it obvious that to be able to bewitch something to the level of complexity that you are essentially giving life to something, that you would have to understand – and I mean, truly understand – the science behind it. I'm not like your other Professors that will tell you that magic is the be-all and the end-all of the universe. Science is an important inclusion, and the combination of science and magic can produce truly remarkable things. There's no use sticking your head in the sand. No need to look down on the muggles. They have some pretty useful insights, and I, for one, will extort any kind of information I can to give me the benefit in this war."

There was silence.

Cross had mentioned the war – the one that the Ministry were currently denying the existence of. The one that people in that very class put their reputation of sanity on the line to vouch for the existence of. Perhaps they were lucky that this was a class of Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs; the two houses most open to the idea. Seamus lowered his head.

Only Allen, Lenalee and Kanda understood that the war against Voldemort was not all their professor was referring to.

"Right," Cross seemed to take the silence as acceptance and understanding of what he just said. That, or he really just didn't care about what the students were feeling right now. "Get on with it then. There's no textbook for this course, so you'll need to copy this down carefully, including the diagrams. I expect that you lot memorise the outer layer of the brain by next lesson. See to it."

And thus, the class continued. Students diligently took notes down in silence, until the bell rang and class was dismissed.

"Blimey."

And that was all that could really be said.

A/N

I'm sorry if this was rather anticlimactic – I kind of feel it was… I originally had Cross just basically spazzing out at Allen for the entire lesson, but then I ended up making him a fair bit more serious that I had ever intended. The thought just occurred to me that Wizards are actually kind of stupid to disregard Muggle Science, because really, there's so many possibilities that could occur if magic and science were combined. So THEN Cross turned into this symbolic figure of this combination – and I swear I didn't mean for that to happen, but oh well. It did. And of course, that meant that he actually had to know what he was talking about and ACTUALLY teach (in the original plan he was drunk at the start of the lesson and slept for most of it, after hitting on various female students, of course).

Maybe I'll do like an Omake kind of thing with my original plan for the lesson – would you guys like that?

Also, tidbit of information. I'm actually at university studying psychology. And one of my courses is on behavioural neuroscience – and that title 'Action Potential: Generation and Propagation' was one of the things I covered last week under microscopic neuroanatomy. So, that's another thing I never expected to include in this fic, but I always enjoy combining my interests

So I wasn't going to use too much bad language in this fic, but unfortunately Kanda has a mind of his own and it just feels weird to not have him swear. So sorry, if swearing particularly bothers you. I don't use it much, only when the character's personality really demands it. See: Cross and Kanda.

Also, I'm not going to use a lot of Japanese in this fic – just when it comes to nicknames. I don't speak Japanese (unfortunately)

Next time on A Sorting To Remember:

}Enter Hagrid and thestrals (Yep, skipping the whole 'Hagrid is away with the giants' subplot there).

}Umbridge meets the Exorcists (Oh God, someone please hold back Kanda).

}And anything else I might think of between now and actually writing the chapter.

Review, please guys! I want to know what you're thinking of the fic. Am I going in the right direction with this? I seem to be getting slightly more serious than the tone that I started with – you guys like serious? Or the lighter stuff? Please let me know! Feedback helps me grow!