With a heavy sigh, Ranmaru scowled, looking down on the young students standing before him. Seven boys he and his group of "friends" had to teach how to duel. When their teacher asked them to do it as part of a new school programme, at first, they were hesitant. The students they were assigned to individually weren't even all in the same houses as they were! He, for instance, was a Hufflepuff having to tutor a Ravenclaw and a Slytherin. What were their names again? Whatever. Reiji had dragged Ranmaru, Ai, Camus and the younger lot to the seventh floor. A room they had never seen before showed up in front of them which Reiji referred to as "the Room of Requirement." Nice room all things considered. It was a large room, carpeted flooring with large mirrors on either side of the room. Good place for duelling.
"Hi hi, first years! Maybe we should start with introductions! I'm Reiji Kotobuki, fourth year and these are my friends! Ranmaru Kurosaki, Ai Mikaze and Camus! We call ourselves Quartet Night! What're all your names?" Reiji stated, grinning from ear to ear.
One by one, the boys said their names. Otoya Ittoki, Tokiya Ichinose, Ren Jinguji, Masato Hijirikawa, Natsuki Shinomiya, Syo Kurusu and Cecil Aijima. How the hell was Ranmaru meant to remember all of them?
"Pleasure's mine! Now, let's start easy, how many of you know what protego is?"
Otoya shyly raised his hand while Masato raised his with confidence.
"Brilliant! At least two of you know. So, Otoya, stand just here. Masa, you stand in front of Ran-Ran."
The younger boys stood square in front of their older peers.
"When we cast our spells, you two cast protego, ok?"
They nodded. Ranmaru grinned mischievously. Let's start with something funny, he thought.
"Tarantallegra!" Ranmaru shouted with a wave of his wand. Instead of Masato dancing around wildly, he produced a Protego charm powerful enough to bounce the spell off to the floor. The younger boys all clapped, staring in awe at Otoya and Masato.
"Woooooah! Impressive, you two! Now, let's show the others how to do it! We'll get into your groups and begin!"
Masato walked towards Ranmaru, alongside a strawberry blonde boy he had been told was called Ren.
"A'ight," Ranmaru scowled "Hijirikawa, teach him how to cast the protego charm."
"Huh? You want me to teach him? Surely you should since you're our senior."
Ranmaru grimaced. He hated being called a senior. Especially by weedy first years.
"Well, you obviously casted it well enough that you can teach Jinguji here."
"I'd like to see you do it, Kurosaki." Ren perked up. Ranmaru growled but begrudgingly produced his wand.
"Right. You stand like this." Ranmaru stated, feet spread apart. Ren and Masato copied.
"Then, raise your wands high above you, move your arm down and shout Protego." From his wand, a shimmering light cast itself in front of Ranmaru. Masato followed his instructions to the same effect. Ren attempted to cast the shield charm but the light his wand produced was nowhere near as prominent as the other two.
"Nice try but you're doing it wrong. You're not meant to flourish your hand like that at the end."
"That's how you did it." Ren argued.
"No it isn't!"
Ranmaru groaned. He'd only been there two minutes and he was done.
"Jinguji, just do it like this." Ranmaru demonstrated the spell once again. Ren nodded, performing Protego with emphasis on the sharpness of his hand movement. The lights emanated from his wand without faltering. Ranmaru nodded, admiring the strength of the spell he had cast.
"Much better. You two seem to have the hang of it." Ranmaru smiled.
"Thanks." Ren stated, pushing his hair aside.
"What do you think you're doing, peasant?!" Camus's voice shouted from the other side of the room. Ranmaru turned to look at the commotion going on. Camus was holding his apprentice by the ear, shouting about how could his magic have backfired so horribly? Upon closer inspection, he realised Camus once blonde hair was now black. Ranmaru couldn't help but laugh. As Reiji pried Camus away, Ranmaru wiped a tear from his red eye.
For weeks, Quartet Night trained the younger students in magic that wasn't taught to the first years. They had grown in their magical abilities and, in the case of Ren and Ranmaru, had even surpassed their seniors. Christmas came around quicker than they expected. Quartet Night were called into their teacher's office. As they stepped through the door, the smell of perfume and tea hit them with force.
"Ah there you are, boys!" A cheerful voice stated as a witch walked towards them. Her pink hair done up elegantly with her witch hat threatening to fall any second. She wore a simple, yet elegant yellow robe.
"Hi, Professor Ringo!" Reiji waved, sitting in one of the four chairs that stood in front of her desk.
"Why did you call us to your office?" Ai asked. Her smile faltered for a moment.
"Well… To start, I'd like to say congratulations on your progress with the first years! Their magical abilities have developed and exceeded my expectations! You must have taught them very well!"
Ranmaru smirked to himself, puffing out his chest slightly in pride. Camus frowned.
"Is that all?" He questioned.
"Um… Not quite actually. I never told you why I asked you to tutor these seven boys in the first place."
They glanced at each other. Now she mentioned it… She hadn't told them.
"Well…" She continued "Professor Saotome believes they will need to achieve your levels of magical abilities in order to protect this school from a dark force."
"Dark force?" Reiji asked, concerned.
"We didn't want to tell our students just yet but a dark wizard has been trying to infiltrate our school and destroy it."
Ranmaru's eyes widened.
"What do those weedy first years have to do with protecting the school? Can't you just ask the Ministry?" He questioned. They were only 11!
"We can't. They're trying to deal with him already. The only way we can defeat him is for those with exceptional magical abilities to concentrate their powers in one fell swoop."
Quartet Night looked at each other.