"You do understand that most new spells backfire right?"

"Oh cram it. You sound like a Streamer."

Thaddeus rolled his eyes at the sound of his friend's unpopular terminology. Martin had always tried to start new wordy trends around The Hall and had never succeeded. From the time the young wizard attempted to nickname the instructors "Teachers", which was put down immediately as it was a muggle term, to the time he elongated owls to "Screechers", Thaddeus progressively got more and more annoyed. What was more annoying than anything was the fact that "Streamer" seemed to be getting more and more popular among the pupils.

"Well either try it or don't, but at least stop standing there like a dunce," Thaddeus finally retorted.

Despite his confident statements about his new spell, Martin was all but terrified to test it, especially since Instructor Caventhall disintegrated his wand practicing an unstable hex-charm hybrid. As sweat dripped from his brow and landed on his arm that had been extended and motionless for more than a minute, Martin began to reason with himself and will his mouth to speak the incantation.

If I stop now, he thought, Thad will not let me live it down for weeks. Illuminus expundus. Martin thought carefully about what the spell should do, and finally worked up the courage to act. With a swift and concise circular motion, he exclaimed "Illuminus expundus!"

Neither Thaddeus or Martin could have predicted a result as tremendously terrifying as this one. The banana that Martin had cursed slowly rose in the air and, at first, emitted a rather pleasant glow from within. All of a sudden the light that just moments ago was calm and inviting turned an angry red and exploded with such a force that it created a vacuum-like shockwave. Hundreds of tiny bits of banana scattered all about the room, melting holes in some materials because of the heat from the molten fruit parts.

"Bloody amazing," breathed Martin as his look of surprise turned into a look of pride. He had prepared for the worst and had already spoken to the wandmaker about a new wand. "Wasn't that bloody amazing!?," the delighted wizard exclaimed as he turned towards his only friend in The Hall.

As Thaddeus turned towards him, Martin proactively became disappointed as the look terror on Thad's face began to express its feelings in words. "Please never use that spell again."

Mr. Potter

Please come to my office as quickly as

you can manage.

Minister Shacklebolt

Harry rushed up the stairs as he headed for Kingsley's office. As he was rarely ever summoned to the Minister's chambers, it had to be something important. Also, the short and concise nature of the letter that had magically fluttered onto Harry's desk a few minutes ago was more worrisome that perhaps it should be. As he approached the office door, it flew wide open to reveal the Minister of Magic himself sitting behind his desk. Shacklebolt waved Harry in, but there was a certain perplexed look on his face.

"What is it sir? Is everything alright?"

"Good morning Harry. Please close the door and have a seat. We will have to get straight down to business today." Kingsley waved his wand and a chair slid out just slightly.

As Harry sat down the Minister continued, "You have done a marvelous job over the years in apprehending all of the supporters of Lord Voldemort. Such a good job, in fact, that we have assumed that all of them have been brought to justice and the cause of the Dark Lord had been quelled. Unfortunately, I have never been very comfortable with simply believing it to be true, and now it seems that I may have been right."

Harry leaned forward as the seriousness of the situation sank in. As per usual when something major happened, all formalities were dropped of the conversation. "Kingsley what are you talking about?"

"You are aware that the Ministry has a department devoted to detecting when a child with magical power has awakened correct?" As Harry nodded his head, still confused as to where the conversation was going, the Minister continued. "Most children do not exhibit magical abilities until they reach the age of 8 or so. It came to our attention a few years ago that children that had at least some ties with magical families were going missing around the age of 7. Does this strike you as odd?"

"Yes it does and it is tragic as well, but how is it connected with a following of Voldemort?"

"I am not sure if it is or not. I normally would just have you assign an Auror to accompany some Ministry workers to investigate, but we have a child currently in custody that claims he was abducted. I want you to go talk to him please."

"Certainly Sir. When would you like me to go?"

"We have him in questioning along with his parents. They are expecting you within the hour."

Harry stood up and began to walk away without even being dismissed. As he did, he spoke with determination, "I shall report to you immediately after. Thank you Minister." As the door closed, an empty feeling hit Harry deep in his stomach. Something was indeed not right.

It had been three days since Martin and Thaddeus had each tried out their new spell. Being the first two pupils to go completely through the strenuous curriculum that The Hall imposed on young wizards was nothing to sneeze at. Starting at the young age of 7, pupils are taught the same subjects and forms of magic as the students at Hogwarts, as well as all other mainstream schools. Martin had always been glad that he was taken in by Chancellor Leafwurt before Hogwarts had the
chance to recruit him because the instructors always went on about how The Hall had superior teaching methods.

The waiting lobby for The Council has such uncomfortable chairs, thought Thaddeus as he sat nervously waiting for his turn presenting his new spell to The Council. "Aaawhhh," he yawned as he rubbed his eyes and slapped his face to wake himself up. Martin and he had worked tirelessly day and night in order to create a new spell for Martin to present in time for the deadline. Although it was a subpar charm for the standards of the Extensive Magical Creativity Examination, or E.M.C.E for short, anything was better that presenting that terror of a spell that was created previously.

It sure is taking Martin a long time. I wonder if there was a problem. Thad thought to himself. As if on cue, the tall, extravagantly carved double doors swung open to reveal a less than overjoyed Martin Strauss. In fact, the look on Martin's face seemed like that of defeat.

"How did it go? Did you pass? Did they like the charm?" Thad bombarded Martin with questions as soon as he was within ear shot. As Martin looked up his look of distraught quickly turned into a smile as he answered the questions, "Good, Yes, and most certainly."

"Oh good. So they liked the solidification charm?"

"Yes Thad, nothing to worry 'bout. Good luck and try not to outdo me." Martin said with a pompous little smirk that indicated sarcasm.

"If I don't I might not pass!" Thaddeus was quite pleased with himself, as he normally was not very quick with comebacks. Striding confidently by his oldest friend in the world, Thad passed through the double door, turning back as they closed behind him. To his delight, Martin did not so much as turn around, but had only one thumb in the air in wishes of good luck. As the groundsmen waved their wands and the door locks turned, Thad turned and walked to the stage with a smile on his face that could not be erased.

Thaddeus looked up at the presiding staff. As the instructing staff at The Hall was small, The Council consisted of five instructors. At the far left side sat was a tall bearded man clad in a royal blue set of robes name Marcelus Rinaldi. Rinaldi was in charge of teaching the Dark Arts class at The Hall and was at one time the lover of Minerva McGonagall, the Headmistress of Hogwarts. Next to Rinaldi sat a short and petite woman with blonde hair. While most of the pupils loved Heather Hollendrake, Thaddeus disliked her because she was very intimidating, despite her appearance. After all, she was the Dueling Instructor and her patronus was a Norwegian Ridgeback Dragon.

At the far right side stood a mountain of a man in both magic and appearance, Alphonze Riviér. He did not sit because, at seven and a half feet tall, his knees could not fit under the table. Riviér was the Potions Instructor at The Hall, and was revered for his ability to brew potions in a fraction of the time that it should normally take. To the left of Riviér was the Assistant Chancellor as well as the Hex and Curse Instructor of The Hall, Piper Lorinthos. Besides her scarlet red hair and her daunting, yet attractive face, Lorinthos was mostly a mystery.

The one who was anything but a mystery, however, was entering the room and heading straight for the middle seat of The Council. As he sat down, Chancellor Mobelos Leafwurt's short brown hair slightly bounced before promptly resettling. Lifting his eyebrows slightly he revealed the ever so charismatic smile that ultimately was what made Thaddeus decide to attend The Hall. Leafwurt raised his hand in a beckoning manner, indicating that it was time to begin the E.M.C.E.

Time seemed to stop its slow rate of flow and abruptly snapped back into the present for Thad. All of a sudden the nostalgia and joy of seeing all of these instructors gathered in the same place disappeared and was replaced with the same knot of nervousness and anxiety deep in his stomach. Remembering why he was here, Thad slowly approached the center of the room as his palms became so sweaty that he wasn't entirely sure he would be able to grip his wand. The culmination of all his years of learning and practicing different spells was reduced to his ability to perform a spell that Thad himself had created and perfected. Here we go, he thought.

Chancellor Leafwurt spoke in his deep calming voice as he had done so often before. "On behalf of The Council of The Hall I, Chancellor Mobelos Leafwurt congratulate you on all of your years of school that you have completed that have led you to this point. You have worked hard and learned much, but we must ask you to demonstrate what you have been taught just once more. Name the type of spell that you wish to perform."

"It is a hex sir."

"Of what nature?"

"The hex targets the afflicted's limbs and restricts their motor skills in both arms and both legs. The original idea was to implant ideas into the target's mind but i thought that was too similar to the imperial curse."

"Sounds interesting," remarked Leafwurt. "On what were you planning to demonstrate… Er… what do you call the spell?"

Thaddeus froze. He did not have an answer to either question and had never been good at thinking on the fly. Seeing the dumbfounded look on Thad's face, the Chancellor decided to help out in both areas.

"If Stupefy was not already a spell I may suggest it as the name in honor of your current face." Upon realizing the previous statement was a joke, Thad smiled as if signaling that he understood Leafwurt's humor and waited for the real substance of what his mentor had yet to speak.

"I shall wait until the hex is shown in order to name it properly. As for the test dummy…" Leafwurt paused if for nothing more than dramatic effect, "I shall volunteer."

At this ridiculous suggestion, all Council members except Instructor Lorinthos immediately jumped to their feet in protest.

Hollendrake cried out, "Nonsense Chancellor! At least let him test it on me! You are far too valuable to our cause, not to mention this establishment to take such a blind risk."

Riviér spoke out in his deep and raspy voice, "I am inclined to agree, but I am a much more viable candidate that Heather. She is too small to begin with, and I would hate for her petite figure to be made any smaller."

"I concur Alphonze. You are the perfect test doll. Much too large to miss." Riviér turned and glared at Rinaldi. The bad blood between them over the Dark Arts position had never truly settled. Looking past this comment, Riviér looked to Lorinthos for agreement. "Please grace us with your input at any time Piper."

"The Chancellor has already decided. We should not question him."

As the back and forth banter transpired, Leafwurt had already made his way from The Council's perch down to the floor and was positioning himself across from Thaddeus.

The young wizard couldn't believe his eyes. He was confident in his abilities as a wizard, but not so much so that he would voluntarily test out a new spell on his Chancellor who had recruited him, as well as mentored him throughout most of his life.

Seeing the look of contemplation and confusion on his favorite pupil's face, Leafwurt spoke in a soft voice, giving words of encouragement. "It's ok I believe in you."

Thaddeus raised his wand, trembling as he did so. Never in his life would he have thought that a situation like this would arise. Mustering up every ounce of courage that he could find, Thad began to speak the incantation. His lips quivered and his voice cracked as he did so.

"Limbus Vagentures."

As a mild shock wave shot from Thad's wand, Chancellor Leafwurt sidestepped so that the hex narrowly missed him and continued through the air until it struck a wall, chipping brick off and leaving a moderate sized dent.

"An enemy will not simply standby as you attempt to hex or curse them Thaddeus. I thought that we taught you better than that."

"S-Sorry sir. Please let me try again."

Slightly angered by the fact that The Chancellor had not acted like a test dummy, Thaddeus decided to go all out with his next attempt. He raised his wand and made a quick, firm movement as he spoke out the incantation.

"Expelliarmus." Thad's wand flew across the room and straight to Leafwurt's hand.

"Not good enough," exclaimed the Chancellor. As he tossed the maple wood wand back to Thaddeus, he reasoned for what seemed to be the last time with his pupil. "If you aren't serious about this exam, we may be forced to fail you. I don't know how else to make it clear that this is not a joke and we expect higher results from a tenth year student.

"Yes sir," Thaddeus replied. He only knew of one way to make this work as he realized that the test wasn't just a walk in the park. "Instructor Lorinthos, do you have any advice that may help? I'm not quite sure what to do."

Leafwurt seemed to be rather taken aback by such a statement. He scoffed towards Thaddeus, "How dare you ask for help during an examination you man!?" Looking back and gesturing towards Lorinthos he continued, "Just because Piper went through the same trial doesn't…"

"LIMBUS VAGENTURES!"

The hex hit the Chancellor square in the chest. For a moment he remained standing until his legs stopped cooperating. As the helpless man flailed around on the floor spurting incomplete bits of spells from his wand, the rest of The Council could not help but snicker at the cleverness of the young pupil, as well as admire the results of the spell.

Finally lowering his wand from the line of control to the Chancellor, Thaddeus could not help but be proud of his quick wittedness.

Chancellor Leafwurt slowly rose to his feet. Lifting his head in both defeat and satisfaction, he began to give a slow round of applause to the new graduate which was joined by the rest of The Council. For the first time in what seemed like an age, Thad felt a sense of accomplishment and self worth. As he walked forward to shake the Chancellor's hand, Leafwurt announced, "Ladies and Gentlemen of The Council, welcome into our ranks the newest full fledged wizard and 9th graduate of The Hall, Thaddeus Bontragger."