c 26

"Your grandfather was able to see nearly all possible futures with some accuracy and clarity."

Dang, I think to myself, what is my grandpa a God?

[Present]

I get out of my bed and I cannot wait to go around the school and look at how powerful all the students in each grade are, also if I can I would want to have a look at how powerful the teachers, but first I have to get Hagrid's potions ready.

I freshen up then I go to my suitcase which is beside my bed and open it up, I think to myself that I really need to upgrade it, then go inside it.

Inside the suitcase, there is a piece a land as big as an island, in the middle of the land there is a cosy house, which has 3 floors, the first floor has a lounge and a lab that takes up the rest of the floor, the second floor is an attic that has a bed, a desk, and a few bookcases filled with books, and the basement is dark and dank with cages of all sizes, these are not just ordinary cages but ones filled with all matter of powerful wards. Surrounding the house is a magical garden made up of all matter of strange and fascinating flowers and trees.

I land inside and run to the house my mother made me and rush to my lab, I enter and see that everything is in order and the potions are coming along well, I make some final adjustments to them then I take out the ingredients Hagrid gave me and store them away on the shelves in my lab, I go back to my potions and see that they are done so I pour them into the flasks I have on hand, after that I clean up my lab and head out with the potions Hagrid needs.

I have breakfast then I head to Hagrid's house, but I run into him near the great lake, there I give him the potions he needs and head off to look at how powerful all the students in each grade are, also if I can I would want to have a look at how powerful the teachers.

I wandering the school, have a good look at my classmates' strength, the first years, and I must say I am pretty disappointed, most of them are at level 1, with the twins at the lead, I guess it is because I showed them some of the stuff I learned from my mother like potions and spell theories.

I sight to myself, what do all these snotty purebloods and good for nothing half-bloods do all their life before they come to Hogwarts, most muggle-born wizards and witches tie them in strength.

I look around and find out that the second years and third years on average are in level 2, the fourth years and the fifth years are in level 3, so I that means I have the same amount of power as them but just not the same amount of spells to back it up, I have a hard time seeing how strong the sixth years and seventh years, but at the end I was able to see that they where in level 4.

After wandering the school and checking how powerful all the students in each grade are, I fell glad that I now have a clear idea of where I am at and how much work I have yet to do. Right now I do have the same amount of energy as the fourth years but that does not matter since all I can do with it is last longer in a fight.

I contemplate the issue that is, why my natural energy is not increasing for a long time, and the answer has cleared up for me, I do not have the power to back my energy up, under my mother's tutelage I learned the ideas and theories behind Charms, Transfiguration, and The Dark Arts, that includes jinxes, hexes, and curses, but no spells and that is holding back.

As I walk down the thinking to myself, I see Professor Flitwick walking down the hallways and I have the urge to sneak a peek at his strength, I mentally argue the risk and rewards, in the end I give in since I want to have an idea the Professor's strength and get a general idea of Voldemort and Dumbledore strength.

I open my Third Eye just a squint and look at Professor Flitwick, all I see is a blur when I look at nonchalant and as if he felt me looking at him Professor Flitwick turns around and I hurriedly close my Third Eye and act nonchalant.

"Caelum, my boy what are you doing wandering around?" asks Professor Flitwick

"Oh, hello Professor Flitwick, it is good to see you out and about, I was just off to the library to get started on practicing next week materials," I say with a straight face.

Professor Flitwick nods his head and says, "It good to see a student getting ready for future materials, but where is your books?"

I now just noticed I have nothing on hand except my wand, I think I just kicked myself.

"Haha, Mr Caelum do you know how many students try each year to spy on me to get the answers to the test, anyways I know why you where spying on me," Professor Flitwick says.

"You do I ask," paniced stricken.

"Yes, you are wondering about the duelling club, I know you will do very well when it comes to your end of the year test, so the only reason why you would spy on me is because of the duelling club."

I nod my head at that and let the man believe what he wants.

"Well, I have good news and bad news, which one do you want to hear first."

c 27

"Well, I have good news and bad news about the dueling club, which one do you want to hear first," asks Professor Flitwick.

"The good news, I guess," I say.

"Well, the good news is that the Headmaster has allowed me to start the dueling club, so we will be starting right after the Christmas holiday also Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape," said Professor Flitwick with a smile on his face.

"So what is bad news you are talking about since the dueling club will be opened," I ask with a questioning look on my face.

Professor Flitwick sighs, "sorry Mr Lovegood, I know how hard you worked to get this club started but you cannot go to it this year, all first cannot enter the dueling club."

I try to sway Professor Flitwick, but he does not give in and says, "first years do not know that many spells and can easily hurt each other even if we taught them useful spells since they still need to learn the basic."

Professor Flitwick walks away, and I am left standing there by myself, in my head I am cursing the stupid rules and want to shout out to Professor Flitwick that I am not a child that cannot take care of himself and if anybody is worthy of learning anything it should be me since I am 27 years old.

I walk back to the Gryffindor common room dejectedly, sighing to myself I think what else could I do then to wait half a year, but if I stop and look at it from an optimistic point of view it's not so bad since I was able to get Professor Flitwick, the duelling champion, to teach us and I have six years with him, Professor McGonagall, and Professor Snape, who are powerful wizards and witches in their own rights.

Anyways I will be having my mother over the Christmas holiday and the summer break teaching me much more other stuff.

Time passes, and the Christmas holiday is fast approaching and the first term will be over before we go on our Christmas holiday.

With the first term drawing near to an end our Professors decide to load us full with homeworks and all day you would see no one messing around or taking it easy.

Defense Against the Dark Arts and Transfiguration have become my favorite classes and my strong points when it comes to magic. In Defense Against the Dark Arts, we have learned many Jinxes and I have come across summaries of powerful hexes and curse and I cannot wait to learn them, so far in Defense Against the Dark Arts, we have spells like; the Knockback Jinx, the Impediment Jinx, and the Jelly-Legs Jinx. The twins instantly fell in love with Jinxes and all term they scoured the library for more Jinxes spells, I also joined them too and we learned Jinxes like; the Trip Jinx, the Pimple Jinx, and I also was able to teach myself the Tempest Jinx.

In my Transfiguration class, we learned a few Transformation spells; like the match to a needle that we learned in the first week, then the stick to torch, and glass to mirror. All basic stuff but as the years go by we will learn more and more advance Transformation spells like furniture to animals and humans to animals. In our second year, we will learn how to Untransfigurate the second main branch of Transfiguration, then in our fifth year we will learn Vanishment the third main branch of Transfiguration, and finally, we will learn Conjuration in our sixth and seventh the fourth main branch of Transfiguration.

Charms is very useful, but it takes a lot of discipline and practice to get it down, unlike Transfiguration where you need visualization to use it. In Charms we learned spells like the Levitation Charm we learned in the first week, the Wand-Lighting Charm which produces light at the tip of your wand, the Unlocking Charm which unlocks and opens doors, windows and objects that are not protected by magic, and the Softening Charm which softens a targeted area or object, making it rubbery and bouncy.

Potions have been a breeze for me so far since I already make the potions with my eyes closed, so far we have covered the Antidote to Common Poisons which is a potion that counteracts ordinary poisons, and the Cure for Boils which we covered first in class, on my free time that I could squeeze in I have been working on the Polyjuice Potion in my lab, this is a potion that allows the drinker to assume the form of someone else after a failure at it I now believe I have perfected it and can produce a few more this year.

Then there is History of Magic which is taught by Professor Binns whose class is regarded by every student at Hogwarts as some of the most boring, I surely have no idea he does it, making history about goblin movements, giants wars, wizarding battles, amazing witches and wizards, and different wizarding communities boring. Anyways I do most of the learning about the History of Magic by myself in the library, in class me and the twins spend most of the time chatting and planning some pranks to do, and we even have gone as far as to have duels in the back of the class when we heard the dueling club will not allow first years to enter and while we are doing that Professor Binns continues to go on and on not even noticing us.

My other classes go well and with that, the term ends, and the Christmas Holiday just begin.

c 28

A cute little boy, with bright golden hair and shining silver eyes that can pierce through your very soul, a calm expression plasterer his face, and you cannot help yourself wanting to pinch his cheeks stepped off the train, the Hogwarts Express.

That boy is me, every time I remember my predicament I cannot help myself feeling exacerbated I look like a little doll that you cannot help but cuddle up with. I still remember my run-in with upper classmate girls that would pinch my cheek or always call me cute.

It finally that time, the Christmas Holidays, mostly everyone is going to their homes to celebrate including me.

I look around the train station and I my eyes locked on to a woman with the exact same hair color and eyes color as me with stunning looks, it's my mother, Pandora Lovegood. Next to her is a man with dirty blond hair, slightly crossed eyed, but still he looks good with his bright suit, it is my father, Xenophilius Lovegood. Holding my father's hand, is a little girl with dirty blond hair, silver eyes, happily waving me over, it's my sister Luna Lovegood.

Smiling I pick up my suitcase and owl cage with Hedwig inside it, then walk over to them.

"Brother, how was Hogwarts like," my sister asks as soon as she sees me.

I smile, "Didn't I tell you all about it in the letters I wrote to you?"

My sister pouts and says, "I want you to tell me all about it yourself!"

I nod my head, "Okay, brother will tell you all about it," I say as I rub her head.

My mother comes over and pinches my cheek, which I don't mind since hey she is my mother, "So, how was school?" my mother asks me, I guess to make short conversation.

"It was good, and I learned some new spell," I reply, compared to Harry Potter's years at Hogwarts, with all matter of trouble popping up for him, mine was pretty smooth and there is not much to talk about.

"What was your favorite subjects so far," my mother asks with a curious expression on her face.

I answer that in a heartbeat, "Transfiguration and Defense Against the Dark Arts."

"Why is that?" asks Luna with curiosity.

"It is because in Transfiguration you can bend anything you desire through only your will and imagination, even reality if you are powerful enough, and in Defense Against the Dark Arts you learn all types of spells that can do different degrees of damage to your opponent," I say with a look of distant longing since I cannot wait to master it.

"Wow, when I go to Hogwarts those two subjects are going to be my favorite too," says my sister, who is willing to follow and do anything I do as well.

"Okay stop filling your sisters head with what you like, she can make her own decisions of what she like when she goes to Hogwarts." my mother says

At that moment eight red heads make their way to us, the plump older woman among them speaks to my mother, "How are you doing Pandora?"

"I am doing well, Molly, how are the children and Arthur as well, I see that he is not with you."

"He got caught up at work in the Ministry, so he could not make it," replies Mrs. Weasley

I turn to the twins as my mother and Mrs. Weasley continue to talk to each other and ask, "What do you guys plan on doing during the Holidays?"

Before the twins could answer Ron Weasley speaks up, "Not much really."

I look at him with a questioning look and before I can say anything to him, one of the twins speak up, "You may not be doing much, but us, on the other hand, have much planned, right twin."

"Yes, much to do and much more to plan," says the other twin.

I raise my eyebrow and ask with a curious tone, "What do you guys have planned?"

The twins come closer to me and Ron stretches his neck to try and listen in, but I do not think he caught much since the twins spoke burly under a whisper, "One of our sources told us that if we want to up our game, go to Filch's Office, in one of the many cabinets found in Filch's Office there is one full of confiscated magic items marked 'Confiscated and Highly Dangerous' there you can find many good items that can help you in your endeavor."

I roll my eyes and say, "The only source we have is Peeves, and he only helps us because he pitied us."

"Hey, he saw potential in us," the twins said at the same time.

As we are carrying on our conversation Bill comes over to us and asks with a smile on his face, "Are the three of you up to misfit again."

All we give as an answer is a grin, I turn to Bill and ask, "How is it working at Gringotts Bank as a Curse Breaker."

Bill sighs "I am mostly working on paper work, but my chance will come."

Mrs. Weasley voice brings us out of our conversation, "Come on let's go."

I look over and it seems Mrs. Weasley and mother's conversation is over, Ginny and Luna who were talking to each other say their goodbyes, Charlie and Percy discussion end, and I say my farewells to the Weasleys and as they head out Mrs. Weasley says to my mother, "See you on Christmas for dinner, take care."

I look at my mother, "So are we going to the Weasleys for dinner on Christmas?"

"Yes, do not worry we have plenty of times to cover arithmancy, ancient runes, and alchemy."

c 29

Today was Christmas, I woke up early in the morning and went down to the living room after freshening up.

I saw that there was nobody in the living room, I guess I am the first one to wake up, I looked at all the gifts laid down under the Christmas tree it seems like this year I received a lot more than what I usually get each year, must be because of the Gryffindor friends I made and the people that I got acquainted with.

I opened the first present that I laid my eyes upon which was from the twins, inside the box was some chocolate frog, which I appreciate since their family cannot afford any more than that.

Back at the twins' home, they opened their gift from me and inside it was Dungbomb from Zonko's Joke Shop. I sent them these gifts to get them started on working on the Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes.

The second gift I open was from Lee Jorden, who sent me a book on Quidditch called 'Quidditch Through the Ages', must be the same book Harry Potter got I mused to myself, I look inside the gift book and see that there is a note inside.

Dear Caelum,

I know that you suck when it comes to flying, but here is a book that will tell you all about it.

From your caring Friend!

I snort, that bastard means to insult me, good thing I only sent him spider pet food.

The next gift I got was from Alicia Spinnet, who sent me a scarf that is colored gold and red with an image of a lion roaring. What a nice gift I think to myself, maybe I should have sent her a better gift.

Back at Alicia Spinnet house, she went downstairs to her families' living room and opened the gift Caelum sent her, it was a book on potions since she was the one to come up with the idea of studying together on potions and the book is called 'The Basic to Brewing.'

Which I found was an interesting read since it talks about the most important things in potions that many people overlook like how to stir correctly, how the age of the magical plant matters, how to correctly prepare your ingredients, and much more. I have no idea why more people do not read it, but it is this book in my opinion that makes a great potion master.

After seeing the gift Caelum sent her, Alicia Spinnet felt happy inside that Caelum sent her something and hoped that he like the gift she sent him.

The other gift was from Angelina Johnson who sent me a homemade chocolate cake which tasted pretty good, I decided to save it for later. I also sent Angelina Johnson a Christmas gift, some beauty products from Madam Primpernelle's Beautifying Potions.

The next Christmas gift I open is from Hagrid who sent me of his rock-hard food, I immediately throw it away since I do not want all my teeth to fall off, I sigh to myself and feel good since I sent Hagrid those cooking books for his Christmas gift, maybe after a while his cooking skills will become better.

I open the gift from Mrs. Weasley which is a knitted sweater like always and there is a note attached to it saying wear it to dinner.

The other gift is from my sister Luna, who gave me some sweets like Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, Chocolate Frog, and Fizzing Whizzbees. I also sent her a lot of sweets since throughout the whole year we give each other gifts and in Christmas we like to keep it simple.

I finally open the last two gifts which are from my mother and father, who also like to make the tradition of gift giving in Christmas simple as well. They both gave me a total of 100 Gold Galleons for my Christmas gift to send on whatever I want.

At that moment my sister comes down and opens the gifts she got from me, mother, father, and the only friend she made so far Ginny Weasley.

I look around the Christmas tree and see that my mother only has gifts from the Famel couple if you do not include the gifts from us, it seems like her family do not celebrate Christmas.

I look at the gifts that father got this year and it is a big improvement, you can see all matter of different box sizes laying all around the tree and the name tag states my father. It must be all the newspaper readers I think to myself, he sure did get a lot more subscribers.

My mother comes down at that moment and asks if we want to help in the kitchen with preparing for the dinner meal we have planned with the Weasley family. My little sister happily jumps at the idea and I decided to join as well since I want to give myself a short break from experimenting and learning new spells.

My father comes down while we were in the kitchen preparing food then went to his study after getting a bit for breakfast, we joined him as well for breakfast after nearly forgetting about it in all the rush of preparing.

Dinner with the Weasleys was a pleasant event, the food was great, and the atmosphere was light and joyful. The adults kept to their conversation, Mr Weasley and my father talked about their work and other wizarding families, my mother and Mrs Weasly talked about mother stuff.

Me and the twins talked about how to sneak into Flinch's office, Ginny and Luna kept to themselves, the three eldest Weasly's talked among themselves, and Ron was left to his own devices.

Dinner went and desserts came and everyone enjoyed it after sitting around for a while me and my family said our goodbyes to the Weasley family and thanked them for hosting us after that we left and made our way home.

c 30

I knocked on my mother door to her study room, after a bit, a reply came in, telling me to come inside.

I grabbed the handle and open the door, inside was my mother sitting at her desk with piles and piles of parchments and on those parchments were equations and formula that I have no clue what they mean.

I sit down across from my mother who is focused on the parchments before her, I clear my throat to try to get my mother's attention and it works.

My mother looks away from her parchments, then her eyes settle down on me and she says, "Give me one moment sweetie and then we shall begin our lessons."

I nod my head and my mother gets back to the parchments in front of her, as she is working I try to understand what she is doing by looking at all those weird formula and equations on the parchments, I keep on looking and it kind of looks like Muggle math but somehow different.

After a while my mother finishes up her work and I look away from it since I started to get a headache from looking at it.

My mother organizes her parchments then turn to me and says, "Thanks for being patient for me."

I look at my mother then ask the burning question I had, "What were you doing and what were those equations and formula?"

My mother raises her eyebrow, "Oh these are just how you craft spells and this quote on quote equations and formula are Arithmancy."

I nod my head in understanding but there is still some stuff I am confused about, and I guess my mother saw that, so she continued talking, "What you must understand is that in the wizarding world there are 7 types of spells, I know that you already know but just humor me."

I start listing of the types of spells I learned so far, "There are Jinxes, Hexes, and Curses, those 3 fall under the dark arts then there is the other 4 which are Transfiguration, Charms, Counter-spells, and Healing spells.

My mother nods her head with a smile on her face, "Good, here is a tricky question, what does potion fall under?"

I scratch my head, now that is a tricky question.

After a while of silents, my mother speaks up, "I know it's a tough question but with a bit of thinking on your part, you can get but I do not want to waste any time so I will tell you, Potions will fall under the profession category because you can make a career out of it. What else do you think will fall under the profession category, Caelum?"

I think for a while upon the question my mother put forward to me, then my mind wanders for a bit thinking about how my mother teaches me, she always wants me to figure it out and not tell me.

My mind snaps back and I have an answer at the top of my head, "Does Spell Crafting fall under the profession category?"

My mother nods her head and you can see the smile on her face, she pinches my cheek then says, "My little sweetie pie is becoming more and more intelligent."

I complain a bit of being treated like a baby but if you look at the smile on my face you would think that I feel the opposite.

"There is one more profession you are missing it is the making of magical items. So, all in all, there is 3 types of profession and they focus on making, Potions, Spell Crafting, and Magical Items. To work with these three you must the components that come with it, meaning in Potions you must understand the properties and uses of magical plants and magical creatures. For Spell Crafting you must understand Arithmancy. For Magical Items you have to understand Ancient Runes and Alchemy."

I nod my head along as my mother gives me a massive info dump.

My mother continues on talking, "Since your Christmas Holiday is very short I will teach you the basic, during the summer we can go more into depth."

"First thing is Potions, Magical Plants, and Magical Creatures which you already know about, then there is Spell Crafting and Arithmancy, so first thing first, what is Arithmancy?"

"Those formulas and equations must be Arithmancy," I say.

My mother shakes her head, "You are not getting the full picture but looking at things from small very small perspective, Arithmancy is a method that helps you divines numbers and equations, what I was working on is a very advance form of Arithmancy, one that you will not touch for years to come. It can help you divine the future but it very sloppy and some times incorrect, it would be much better if you used the stars to divine the future. Anyways as I was saying Arithmancy is very helpful when it comes to Spell Crafting since you can pop in the equation you need."

I muse to myself, so Arithmancy is basically a magical calculator.

My mother goes on talking, "Then there is how to make magical items, which takes Alchemy and Ancient Runes to do. Ancient Runes is the study of magical languages, Ancient Runes are magically powers syllables and they are what make magical items work. Alchemy on the other hand work with magical minerals and gems, it is the study of producing objects of power with Ancient Runes you can purpose those objects. One example I can give that comes to the top of my head is the Gryffindor Sword, a well known magical item that was made my the goblins, who are masters at making magical items, the sword was made from pure silver and rubies then it was powered by the goblins' Ancient Runes."

Again I notice another simalerity, Alchemy is like making the computer and Ancient Runes is programming it to work.

c 31

In a few days, I will be going back to Hogwarts, so before that I want to at least learn something about Spell Crafting or Magical Items. I know that it takes a long time for you to even touch upon those two professions, it took me years of study to be where I am at potions, and even before I can touch upon those two fields I need to learn much more about Arithmancy, Alchemy, and Ancient Runes but I cannot hold myself back from the allure that these two fields hold and I want to learn at least one trick from these two new fields that have opened up for me before I head to Hogwarts.

So here I am standing in front of my mother's study room right now, I knock lightly on the door after a bit my mother voice comes through from the other side telling me to come inside.

I grab the door handle and slowly turn it letting the door flew wide open with a slight push on my part. Inside the study with all sorts of strange books with a slight magical pulse on the shelves is my mother at her desk, right in the middle of the room.

I give my greetings to my mother than sit right across her.

My mother turns away from her parchments then looks at me with her eyebrows raised, "What are you doing here Caelum, I thought you would be inside your suitcase experimenting with your potions?"

"Yes, so did I but I wanted to ask if you could teach me more of the stuff we talked about yesterday," I said

My mother eyebrows come together into a scowl and she says, "You know Caelum, haste does not bring success, it will take a long time for you to even get to the meat and bone of those two professions and even before you can touch upon those two fields you need to learn much about Arithmancy, Alchemy, and Ancient Runes."

"I know mother but I just want to try it out, it is like putting a beautiful woman in front of somebody then you tell them it is yours but you cannot have her for years to come, if you want you can look at her just do not touch her, do you get what I am saying, that is me."

My mother lets out a loud laugh after she hears what I said, "My, how you have grown, already knowing about what goes on between the man and the woman and describing a woman like that, my little sweetie pie sure has grown, do you plan on bringing me a daughter-in-law already?"

My cheeks redden, and I think to myself why I have even decided to let my mouth go on and speak about that metaphor. "You know... that is not what I... mean."

My mother chuckle at the sight of me feeling shy and ashamed, "I know what you meant, I just wanted a good laugh from it. Anyways I can totally relate to what you feel right now, wanting to have mastery of all things, but like I said before haste makes waste."

I sigh and feel a bit down under after I hear what my mother says but she is correct, like always, even if I wanted to give a try at Spell Crafting or Magical Items I do not know a thing about Arithmancy, Alchemy, and Ancient Runes and those three need to be understood for you to have a go at those two fields.

As I see all hope is lost, I want to go back to my suitcase and get back to experimenting with my potions, but I hear my mother continue on talking, "Like I said I too was in your feet and I can relate with your plea, so I will teach you a bit of Spell Crafting that does not require a lot of Arithmancy."

My head shoots up after I hear what my mother said, and I shout in a barely concealed tone filled with excitement, "Really?"

My mother nods her head, "Yes, but it will not be much, and we have a few days as well since you will be going back to Hogwarts soon."

I agree with my mother says, "So what will we be doing?"

My mother smiles and says, "We will be doing what I am best at, building spells, I will show you a simple example and if you can before you go back to Hogwarts, you will build a simple spell."

My mother continues on talking, "First get some parchments, I know you can do muggle math, so you will be using it if you need. Second, let me demonstrate how Spell Crafting works."

My mother brings out her wand from seemingly out of nowhere, it is breath taking just every time I see it, her wand handle is a silver colored with a metallic sheen and small little dots of light roll move around on the handle then there is the focus crystal which is a beautiful blood-colored gem. I snap out of my reverence as I hear my mother speaks the word "Lumos" then the end of her wand lights up.

"What I just cast was the Wand-Lighting Charm, a simple spell that anyone could do, but here is where things get hard, what if I wanted to cast a blue light instead of a white light that always pops up when I cast the Wand-Lighting Charm."

My mother gets up from her chair and goes to the bookshelves and gets out a great big book titled 'Spell Models' then she comes back to her desk and puts the book in front of me.

"Open the book to the Wand-Lighting Charm," my mother says and I do as I am told, the spell is found right on the second page after the Levitation Charm.

c 32

I open the great big book which is titled 'Spell Models' and flip the pages until I land on the Wand-Lighting Charm section, on that page is a description about the spell, there is also the history of the spell, and much more but what really catches my attention is an intricate model of sorts that coves a great portion of the section on the Wand-Lighting Charm.

I bring the book closer to my mother then I point at the intricate model and ask, "What is this?"

"Look closely at the title of the book, what does it say," my mother replies to me in an obvious tone but I know she is playing with me.

I turn the book over to its cover, "So it is a Spell Model?"

My mother nods her head, "Yes, that model you just pointed at is a spell model,"

Confusion is written all over my face and my mother notices it, "I know you never heard about it since what most wizards and witches do is just learn about how to perform a spell and not its inner workings."

I look closely at the spell model in front of me then think to myself, so that answers a good portion of my questions about how spells work.

I looked up at my mother and asked, "Wait I do not understand, why aren't most wizards and witches not learning this, and correct me if I am wrong but they sure as hell do not teach this at Hogwarts."

My mother sighs and turns to me, "Like with most knowledge that was once known and found in the wizarding world, it was lost to most except a few powerful individuals."

Feeling surprised that such important info would disappear like that, without noticing it my eyebrows come together to form a scowl and I ask my mother that very conundrum she just threw at me, "So you are saying such fundamental knowledge that is part of magic was forgotten just like that over time?"

My mother nods her head, "Yes, as you know wizards and witches are practically still stuck in the Middle Ages just look at Owl Postal Service which came about around the Middle Ages and it is still being used till this day, you would think it is a perfect system if it was being used for hundreds of years but it is not since first of all, it is not safe at all since anyone if they wanted too they could intercept it if they choose too. Second of all, it is just too slow while on the other hand the muggles went from using birds just like us to using telephones and us, wizards and witches, are too arrogant to use it and our arrogance is blinding us from seeing how behind we are."

I nod to that, today's wizards and witches are so behind in the times while on the other hand, the muggles advance each and every day and I cannot help but worry for their future since I am now part of them.

"All in all, with the no advancement being made in the wizarding community plus the wars that keep happening on and off, wizards and witches started to not just stay stuck where they are but started to lose important knowledge over time."

My mother takes a deep breath after she finishes ranting on, I can tell the lack of advancements on the wizards and witches part irritates her but I just do not know why.

"Anyways let's get back to the topic at hand, Spell Models, are the rudimentary break up of a spell and each and every spell has a spell model backing it up. If you ever want to go far in magic you need to make your own arsenal of spells, to do that you must know how to make spells and for that you need to understand how to build a spell model."

"Moving on, to make a spell model is very complicated and time-consuming but you have Arithmancy to help you out. Once you are done with the spell build the spell model in your mind inside of using your imagination, with this method you can save yourself the hassle of coming up with something by yourself. Here let me show you the difference."

My mother grabbed her wand and spoke the word 'Lumos' then the tip of her wand lit up. "That right there was me using my imagination of a bright light, now see the difference when I use a spell model."

Again, my grabbed her wand and spoke the word 'Lumos' then the tip of her wand lit up, she looked at me and asked, "Can you guess what the difference was?"

I nod my head and answer back, "The light was a bit brighter, you cut the casting time by a few milliseconds, and I do not know since I cannot get a good read on your natural energy levels, but if I had to make an educated guess, I would think that you used less natural energy, correct me if I am wrong."

My mother smiles, "Good, good, you are correct I did use less natural energy and as you can see thanks to me using the spell model insade of my imagination I save myself much, and even if it looks very negligible in a death fight it can make all the difference."

I can agree to that, any advantage you have against your opponent is a plus. Anyways I cannot help but feel sadden for most of the wizards and witches in the wizarding world since most of them do not even put emphasizes on using imagination when casting a spell.

"Anyways we should get back to the topic at hand, you crafting your very own spell, but first let me show you an example of how to craft a spell so that you can have an idea of what you are getting into."

c 33

I sat back down in my chair as my mother got started demonstrating on how to craft a spell.

"First look back at the Wand-Lighting Charm spell model, now if you look closely at what this part of the spell model does you can immediately catch that this part of the spell model makes the spell produce a white light, so if you were to change it a little bit." My mother taps the spell model of the Wand-Lighting Charm with her wand then magically a part of the spell model rearranges by itself. "Walh, now then try the Wand-Lighting Charm out but use this new spell model when casting the spell."

I follow my mother's command and build the new spell model as it is, in my mind then when I say the word 'Lumos' the tip of my wand lights up, but this time my wand does not produce a white light from the tip of my wand but a blue light. "Wow," I say without noticing it.

I looked away from the spell that my mother casted and look up to see my mother smiling at me.

"I know, isn't it just a fantastic feeling building your own spell then trying it out for the first time. Anyways as you can see there is much to do before you can make a spell so even if you really want to get into it you cannot, but do not fret since there will come a day that you too will be able to build your own spell."

I cannot help but agree with what my mother said and as much as I wish I could make my own spells I know I cannot since again like my mother said there are so many steps and I do not even know how to complete one at all.

"I have a quick question, why did I not see you use Arthimity to build the spell?" I ask my mother.

"Good question and the answer is really simple, I did not need it, I solved it in my mind," before I could ask my next question my mother already answered it for me. "Like I said before Arthimity is like Muggle Mathematics, the deeper you get into the easier past problems get."

That makes sense I guess, I think to myself and an example pops up in my mind, somebody that knows Algebra would not need to solve an addition problem on paper, but they can do it in their mind but the same cannot be said to somebody that just got into learning about addition.

I snap away from my thoughts as a book is dropped in front of me with a title called 'How to Read a Spell Models', I look up at my mother with a question plastered at my face. "Is this for me?"

My mother nods her head, "Yes, it is a good as any other place to start, then after you finish learning this you can start learning Arthimity during the summer from me and you will learn more about Arthimity at Hogwarts as well next year."

I pick up the book from the desk and get up from my chair, "Okay mother, I will get started on reading this book, thanks."

Then I head out of my mother's study room and go to my room so that I can get started on reading this book anyways I plan on reading it a couple times so that I can memorize it before I head back to Hogwarts.

It is early in the morning and right now I am inside my suitcase finishing up on my latest potion that I am brewing.

After I finished brewing the potion, I bottled it up inside a flask then I made sure to clean up my work station, finally, after all that was finished I headed out of my suitcase.

When I came outside of my suitcase I took a deep gulp of fresh air, as much as I love my suitcase since it is very useful and cool it is still very disconcerting jumping from one whole new world to another.

I look around my room, which is pretty well organized just the way I like it. There is my bookshelf covering one nearly side of my room with some books on it which were from my mother's study that I borrowed it from. Opposite my bookshelf is my desk with a chair, in the middle is my bed, and next to my door is a big closet. There is no bathroom and one window near my desk.

I pick up my dirty old clothes from the floor and put it in my bin for dirty clothes then I pick up any used parchments or trash and throw it in the trash bin, finally I do my bed. Just right about now I wished I know the spell for cleaning up so I could finish this all in a second but my mother forbid since as she put it, it bred laziness.

I went to my study desk and sitting on my desk is the book my mother gave me called 'How to Read a Spell Models', I picked it up and go downstairs with it. If you are wondering why I am still reading this book, it is because I sorely underestimated how much information is in this book.

The book has a few hundred pages and each spell can take up to a page or two at most, now that right there is a whole lot of spell models to finish learning about and do not let me get started on some of the new spell that are in the book which I have never heard about at all.

So basically right now I have finished reading about the spell model of the spell that I know. There is still a lot of spell models that I do not know about but I plan on keeping this book with me and my mother would not really mind since she really has no use for most of the books in her collection since I guess she already maybe knows about it. The only issue that I have with this amazing book is that it does not show me how to do these spells it holds, I guess I am asking too much from this book but I got to first learn about these spells if I want to finish the book since there is still a good chunk left.

c 34

I came downstairs to the kitchen and I was greeted to the sight of my sister having toast with peanut butter and blueberry jam, my father was also having the same for breakfast but he had coffee with his toast.

As I was sitting down at the table to have some breakfast before heading off to Hogwarts I looked at my sister and noticed that she was staring at something hungrily, I follow her gaze and saw that she was staring at the cup of coffee in my father's hand, my father also noticed her gaze that was on his coffee with a shake of his head and the release of a sigh he gets back to reading his newspaper.

I chuckled to myself, it seems like my sister was again not allowed to drink coffee by my parents, then again if I was to think back to her fixation I guess you could blame me for her craze since it was me who got her so enthusiastic towards coffee.

If you are wondering how it started, well it was one day when she saw me drinking coffee early one morning, curious, she asked me what it was that I was drinking, and I had to run my loud mouth and say that this was coffee, a drink for adults only.

She asked if she could have a taste of it but wanting to toy around with her, I refused. Then she ran and complained to my mother, who thought that she, Luna, was not old enough to be drinking coffee, and she also thought that I too was not old enough. Man, how I really wanted to shout at that moment, that I was over 30 years old.

Now here I am this morning without even a sip of coffee to wake me up, damg I thought, I should have just let my sister have a taste of the coffee, immediately she would have realized by herself how bitter it is and then things would have been left at it was, but I had to poke at her.

I sat down at the breakfast table and then pick up some toast and also some jam that was on the middle of the table. I sigh when I look at my cup, it is empty and with no coffee I think to myself, I get up from my chair and go to the refrigerator, I take out the milk and bring it back to the table.

For the 100th time I sigh as I slowly pour the milk into my cup, it seems like this will be how my life will be for now on I think silently to myself, I seems like I will not be having any more of the bittersweet liquid that provides the only semblance of pleasure.

My mother came to the table with more toast and asks if we want more, we all refuse the extra toast but she just looked at us and placed more toast in front of us then she sat down at the table. Not arguing with her since we all know we will not win at all me, my father and sister get working on eating our extra.

As my mother was making her own toast she looked over at me with her eyebrow raised and asked me, "Is all your stuff prepared? I do not want to see you running around in a hurry to get prepared."

"I.. amm rad.." I tried to say with a whole toast in my mouth.

My mother lightly hits me on the back of my head as a scowl played on her face, "Finish your food first before you speak, you are getting bread crumbs all over my table."

My sister snickered at me under her breath and feeling as if I have to place my injustice some were I growled at her. She sticks her tongue back at me and before I could return fire, I notice from the corner of my eyesight my mother giving me a stink eye and with that look from my mother all animosity fled away from me and I get back to eating my breakfast.

My father just looks at us bickering and let out a light chuckle then gets back to his newspaper at hand. After I finished my breakfast my mother looked at me and said, "Hurry up, go put on some muggle clothing, we leave in about an hour and make sure to double check that you have everything prepared, I do not want you sending me owls saying you forgot some of your stuff."

I nod my head and go up to my room but before I leave I make sure to get my sister by lightly flicking her on the forehead and before she could get me, I run away.

I get to my room then go to my closet and take out some muggle clothes to put on so that I can fit right in with the muggles before I get on the Hogwarts Express. As I am putting on my clothes Hedwig comes knocking on my window with her beak. I quickly finish putting on my clothes then go to my suitcase and get out Hedwig's birdcage stand after that I open the window for Hedwig, she comes inside and flies around my room once after that she lands on her birdcage stand.

I go to her and gave her some owl food then I asked, "How was your hunt, girl?"

And before you think I am crazy, Hedwig nodded her head to answer my question.

"Alright girl, you will have to go into your cage, we are going back to Hogwarts, okay?" I say to her after Hedwig finishes her owl treat, she goes into her cage that I got out from my suitcase.

I double checked that everything is prepared and that I did not forget anything that I would be needing when I am at Hogwarts and that I did not forget anything.

c 35

"Hey guys," I said absentmindedly to the twins as I entered the compartment they were inside, I looked up from my book when I did not get a reply back from them so I look at them and I have to say I am shocked with what I am greeted to, the both of them throwing spell at each other.

I cleared my throat to get their attention and they both slowed down a bit with throwing spells at each other and turned to me. Once I had their attention I asked the question that in my opinion really needed to be addressed, "What the hell are the two of you doing?"

"Oh, hey Caelum, I see that the moment has finally come and we have come earlier than you on the Hogwarts Express," said George as he ducked under, as the spell Fred fired sped over him.

I sigh, and place my hand on my forehead trying to rub away the headache that will come upon me any moment, I look at the both of them moving about and casting the few spells that they know at each other and try to figure out what on earth their goal is, but I cannot guess how these two minds work "You two did not answer my question, so let me say it slowly, what are the two of you up?" I ask again.

You may be wondering why I am overreacting to what these two are doing but at Hogwarts, we got into so much trouble (thanks to Filch) and our first year is not even over yet. I know for sure that Filch is just waiting for us to do something dumbfounding then get us kicked out.

"Well, we were cooped up in our house for so long and thanks to our dear mother we could not do any magic at home," answered Fred as he fell to the floor to dodge the spell fired at him and rolled to one side to dodge the other spell. "Now we are getting our blood flowing and getting ready for Hogwarts," said George through pants and sit down.

Fred gets up from the ground and also sits down, I look at the both of them and think to myself why on earth did I decide to become friends with these two, all the trouble I get into is not worth it, complaining to myself I take my suitcase and put it on the rack with the twin's stuff.

I grab Hedwig's cage and look inside and see that she is sleeping, I wanted to ask if she wanted to fly to Hogwarts since she enjoys being in the outside rather than being cooped up inside her cage, but I see that she is very tired from the hunting she did all night long, so I carefully put her on the rack.

"So, what did you do during the holidays, Caelum?" Fred asked me. Before I could answer him, Lee Jorden came inside our train compartment. "Hello, mates!"

"Hey, Lee it looks like you are the last one to come today," says Fred and George picks up the conversation so naturally that I am shocked yet again at how these two can finish each other sentences a part of me wonders if they could read each other minds or something. "So that means you get the only remaining seat."

"Anyways what were you guys talking about when I came inside?" asked Lee. I look at him and ask myself does he have some magical creature blood in him because that is some really good hearing he has. Man, what kind of people did I befriend.

"Oh, we were asking each other what we did over the holidays before you rudely interrupted us," answered Fred with a smile on his face, Lee just awkwardly laughed it off.

At that moment I speak up, "ignore the both of them, so what did you do over the Holidays, all I did was read some books."

Lee looked at us with what I think is stars in his eyes or I am just being a chuunibyou, "You won't believe it but there was a wizarding circus in town this Christmas and my dad took me to it and there were so many cool magical creatures and amazing spell being cast."

George sighed, "man you are so lucky all we did was play quidditch, and you, Caelum, what is this you and reading, why can't you live a little."

"Tch, do I look like a little kid to you? Anyways have you not heard the phrase knowledge is power, you got to read a lot if you want to ever become a powerful wizard."

Fred shakes his head, "You have said that phrase a million times and you should know that we do read, sometimes, but we only read things of use not any of the boring old drabs that you read."

I shake my head and get back to my book and at that, the train finally picks up and we start to leave the station. I stick my head out the window and so do the three of them and we wave our families goodbye all the way until we are far off from the train station.

As the train was moving along I heard Lee sigh and I look at him with a questioning look on my face, "What, I am very hungry just cannot wait for the trolley to come along."

As if his wish was heard a knock came on our compartment door and it was slowly slid open. We looked at who opened the door and we see that it is the trolley lady. "Hello dears, can I get you anything off from the trolley?"

Fred and George mouth hang open and they look at each other as if to confer their theory with each other. Lee looks at the trolley lady and says, "We will... have a little bit of everything... if that is alright with you."

c 36

Lee spoke up, "We will... have a little bit of everything... if that is alright with you, ma'am."

"That is more than fine with me, dear." The trolley lady says to Lee with a sweet smile on her face as she carefully takes out what he asked for the trolley.

The trolley lady hands Lee the sweets he ordered then he quickly hands the money after that the trolley lady says her goodbyes and closes our compartment door as she leaves.

After a while, Fred spoke up, "how on earth did she do that, Lee just wished for the trolley to come along, puff, she was here, at our compartment."

Lee nods his head and says, "I know, right, what kind of dark magic was that?"

George shakes his along to what his Fred and Lee say and speaks up in a whisper after they say their piece, "I cannot believe we were thinking about sneaking off the train, one day."

Lee face contorted as he heard what George said and shouted, "What!" but he immediately caught himself, I think he thought that the trolley lady might hear him if he spoke very loud so this time when he spoke it was in a whisper, "are you guys crazy, you wanted to sneak off the train?"

Fred smiles at Lee, "don't worry, we now know how scary that trolley lady is so there is no way we will try to cross her."

Lee looks relieved after he got that confirmation from Fred, "Good, that granny looks very dangerous, she must be some powerful witch."

"Yeah that makes sense, nobody at Hogwarts is average except maybe Filch, I think that he might be a squib." Said, George.

Fred looks at me, "Why are you laughing Caelum?" He is right, I was trying really hard to hold it in so that I could continue to listen to them spew ridiculous ideas, but they are all facing me with questioning looks, now that they noticed me I let it out and continue to laugh until some tears fall down my face and my stomach starts to hurt.

"Okay, okay I am done laughing now," I said to them as I wipe away the tears that build up on the corners of my pair of eyes, I look at them and see that they do not look so happy, so I figure I owe them an explanation.

"What? you guys sound like some frightened muggles, 'she must have done some serious dark magic' come on are all of you guys serious, if you want an honest opinion, then she must have set up some wards already in the compartment to catch certain keywords so that she could come as soon as possible if anyone needs anything."

"What, but how? isn't setting up wards very hard, I thought that only a powerful wizard or a group of wizards could set it up," said Fred.

"Professor Dumbledore must have done it, he is always doing some crazy stuff, this fits the bill anyway so why not." I look at the twins then add, "or he might have set it up to help the trolley lady keep track of people who want to get off the Hogwarts Express."

"Yeah that makes sense, anyways we were not the ones that said, 'she must have done dark magic' it was Lee who said that did you see him, he nearly jumped off his seat when the trolley lady came," said George.

Lee snorts, "Did you guys see yourselves, you were deathly pale and sweating buckets, so you were not any better than me."

I shake my head at them as see they continue to argue with each other, wanting not to get into their pointless argument I sneakily dig into the snacks that Lee careless placed all over the compartment and get back to my book.

But under my breath, I say "that is why knowledge is important."

The four of us rush off the Hogwarts Express with nothing on our hands (house elves take your stuff to your room at Hogwarts) as soon as the train stopped at the station. Hagrid was there but this time he was not here to lead the first years but everyone to the carriages that are driven by the Thestrals. It seems like I can see them, must be because I died I guess.

I looked at the Thestrals that are tethered to the carriage, they look like boney reptile horses with wings but what catches my attention is their pupilless eyes, it is ghostly milk white all around.

I turn away from the Thestrals and get into the carriage with the twins and Lee so I do not have to draw attention to myself.

As I get into the carriage Fred looks at me and asks, "Why were you staring at the carriage for a while there?"

"Oh, I was just wondering what makes these carriages move, I am sure as hell it isn't an animated carriage since that would take a lot of magic to do, even for Professor Dumbledore."

"You always pay attention to things that do not matter," said Fred and George carried on for him, "look at us, all we care about is digging into that delicious return feast."

I look at them and the contempt is clearly evident on my face, "is your stomach the only things you guys can think of, for all you deny that Ron is related to you guys, you are clearly very similar."

Fred and George each put their hands on their hearts and put on fake shocked faces. "How could you compare us to our adopted brother?"

Ever since I have known the twins they put on a facade that they have nothing to do with Ron.

"Fine, that is an unfair comparison but you are getting very close," I said.

Lee looks at us and speaks up, "we are here so stop arguing and let's get off the carriage, the feast awaits us."

c 37

I let out a good sigh of satisfaction as I get to my dorm house bed at the Gryffindor Tower, woah, if I keep on having these kinds of feasts here at Hogwarts I am really going to get fat and very soon. But who cares about that right now, my stomach is full, and I feel blissful all is well and good in my little world.

I wake up very early in the morning, heavy-eyed from my deep sleep, I looked around my dorm room which is very different from my own room back at home, and for a good moment I totally forgot where I am and feeling shocked and frightened a little bit of the unfamiliar place, I jumped off my bed trying to get into my best fighting stance, but it was so pitiful since I tripped over my own suitcase and fell head first on to the ground.

I hear a voice speak to me as I get my face off the floor, "hey why are you awake so early, Caelum?"

I look up and see that it is Lee who spoke to me then I understand where I am, it is Hogwarts, dang I feel like such an idiot.

I look back up and see that Lee is sticking out his head from his bed still waiting for an answer I would guess and there is no way I am telling him that I was spooked and thought that I was kidnapped or whatever else that ran through my mind at that moment so I decided to just come up with an excuse, "what do you mean," I ask as I try to stall, I look around my dorm room for something that would save me from humiliation then my eyes catch sight of my watch sticking out from my coat.

I look at the time on my watch then I look over at my three roommates who have yet to get out of their beds. I turn my head up to Lee and click my tongue, "It is 6 o'clock and you guys are still lazing around in your bed and you are wondering why I am awake, well, have I good day I am getting started on my day quite early today."

"Well, you can do whatever you want, I am going back to sleep," says Lee as I hear him turn around in his bed to get into a comfortable position. I get off from the floor and wipe away some sweat, good gods that was a really close shave, good thing he bought it I think to myself, I head to the restroom to get freshened up.

I came down to the dining hall of Hogwarts, look around the hall and saw that most of the Slytherins are here including their Head of House Professor Severus Snape, it seems like there is 'no rest for the wicked'.

Then I looked at the Ravenclaw table and see that a lot of them are up and about, they even have their school books out in front of them as they are having breakfast, I spot the Ravenclaw Head of House, Professor Flitwick, and see that he is having a conversation with my Head of House, Professor McGonagall.

I look at my house's table and see only a handful of students, with a shake of my head I start walking to my house's table and look around for the best seat which is where all the good food is near, I see Percy at the table and he has the best seat, a little part of me wonders if he is always up this early just because he wants to get his hands on the good grub and not act as a model student.

I sit down next to Percy, he greets me and I greet him back then after he turns around to get back to his breakfast, I stare at his back trying to somehow, I would think, get answers. I snickered a bit at the foolish idea and hold back the laughter so as not to draw Percy's attention. Man o man, I should really tell my suspicion that I have come up with to the twins, they sure as hell won't leave it alone for a long time.

As I am mulling over my thoughts Percy voice broke throw it all as I heard him ask, "are my brothers still asleep?"

I get out of my thoughts and answer back hastily, "yeah, they are still sleeping just like logs."

He shakes his head and sighs, "did you at least try to wake them up?"

I look at him in incredulity "No way, you know how cranky they are this early in the morning, they will fire dozens of spells at me if I had woken them up." I am really serious, those two are all fun and dandy throughout the day but in the early mornings, it is like a flip was a switch somewhere in their brains.

I continue talking to Percy, "it is the first day after our holiday break, so no sweat, our classes are going to be easy today. Anyways, look around not that many people from our house are awake at this time."

I get back to my food as I am eating I look at Percy who looks kind like he is constipated or maybe I am just looking at it all wrong and this is just his thinking face, anyways I ask him, "hey, what is wrong?"

"It's nothing, forget it," he said to me. I looked at him and shrug my shoulder, well have your way I think to myself, as I am getting ready to leave, Percy speaks up, "it is just that all the other houses are already awake and look at our house, basically nobody is here."

"Well, there is not that many Hufflepuff that are awake," I said, which is correct since I only see their Head of House, Professor Sprout and two or three groups of Hufflepuff.

c 38

Percy speaks up, "it is just that all the other houses are already awake and look at our house, there is basically nobody is here."

"Well, there is not that many Hufflepuff that are awake," I point out to him lazily, which is correct since I only see their Head of House, Professor Sprout and two or three little groups of Hufflepuff huddled together, I shake my head, those Hufflepuff are always together holding hands, I muse.

He looks at me and snorts, "you know that is not what I mean, look at the Slytherin table, every single one of them is already awake."

I laugh at him and say a bit teasingly, "if I hadn't known I would have thought that you were a big Slytherin fan."

"Hey, I am being serious here, okay then, look at the Ravenclaw table, mostly all of them are already awake and they are even getting a head start on their classes."

I look at him for a while, I know his character from the books but here in front of me is the real flesh and blood and I must say, he is far more intelligent than the books make him out to be or is it just because he did not have that much scene time, anyways I am amazed that he started to figure out the issues that plague each house.

I rub my chin for a bit and decided to throw him a little bit of guidance "Well, let me shower you with a bit of my knowledge, the four houses are like your fingers, they are each different from each other but if you make a real effort and twist them and turn them this way and that, you can even them out eventually and make them similar to each other but then your fingers will be broken and will not function anymore." I pause for a bit and look at him and ask, "Anyways you get what I am saying, right?"

He nods his head slowly than a bit faster and faster, "yeah, I do."

"Well that is good, but do not get confused, I did say that the houses are different but that does not mean you should give up on improving or getting rid of bad habits. Well, I have said my piece, and I have to go now but if you ever need a bit of guidance you know where to find me." I get up from my seat, wipe away the crumbs, and wave Percy goodbye as I head out of the dining hall.

"Today we will be covering the Wiggenweld Potion, so listen up closely, because this is a very important potion for all of you since none of you do not even know a lick about Healing spells. The Wiggenweld Potion is able to cure injuries and it is the antidote for the Sleeping Draught and the Draught of Living Death," said Professor Snape.

Right now, I am in Professor Snape's Potion class deep down inside the basement. I already knew how to make this potion since as Professor Snape said it would be the only thing I would know for curing injuries until I could learn Healing spells.

"You will work with the person that is right next to you and the two of you will be making the potion by yourselves, make sure to follow the instructions very closely, it is very simple, so I do not want to see any accidents happening. Now then stop gawking at me and begin!"

There was an immediate scrabbling of noise as some people got up and went to the supply cabinet to get their ingredient for the potion, others started flipping through their books to get to the Wiggenweld Potion section.

I look at my partner for the day and say to him, "well it seems like today you have the honor of working with me." I have to say, he really is lucky to have me as his partner, I guess it was not really luck but just Professor Snape dumping his problems on to me, but I must say if there was anybody worse than Neville Longbottom in potionnering than it would be him, Adrian Pucey (Ch. 20).

All I get for a response is a low grunt, I raise my eyebrow and ask him "Adrian is there some dissatisfaction among the ranks?"

He hurriedly raised his head and starts splattering, "no, no I was just feeling a bit cold, it is chilly in, here right?" I raise my eyebrow again as soon as I did not hear the magic word and he too notices it and tries to fix it quickly by adding "I mean grandpa," he finishes.

I sigh it seems like much of the progress we made together has been erased thanks to the long break, I quickly make sure to mentally jot this down for when I build my evil, cough, I mean organization. You just cannot give your minions, I mean, workers a break, they will have nothing to do so it will give them plenty of time to think and you never want your workers to think about their situation.

It seems like we will have to start from base one again I think to myself, I place my hand on his shoulder and say to him kindly as if I was a lovingly grandpa, "listen up here, Adrian, you know I always want the best for you, Right?"

He shakes his head immediately and says, "yes grandpa!"

"Good, it is just that I do not want anything to happen to you, you know how terrible you are when it comes to potions, and it can get awfully dangerous work especially for you and I do the best I can to make sure you do not mess things up but if you do not listen I cannot be held responsible for any of the mistakes you make, you know?"

c 39

"Good, it is just that I do not want anything to happen to you, you know how terrible you are when it comes to potions, and it could get awfully dangerous especially for you. I really try the best I can for you and make sure you do not mess things up but if you do not listen, I cannot be held accountable for any of the mistakes you make, you know?"

His eyes widen as he continues to listen to what I say, I guess he must have started to remember the good old times we use to have together. Woah, I have to say when Professor Snape dropped him onto me, he was a real arrogant racist prick, but we had lots of time to work on his character together, it must be sweet old memories to him now, maybe it is something he recalls from time to time just so he could remember the good old day.

Good old memories, me and him, him insulting me and my blood states and me making sure his cauldron always explodes but he learned really quickly that I can do a lot more than just make his cauldron explode. Anyways nowadays we get along just fine, really it is as if we have always been the best of buds.

I look at him evilly and ask, "why the long face, Adrian, my good old buddy?"

"It is nothing, boss, the air you know, it kind of chilly."

"Listen here, Adrian, my old pal, if you follow my instruction just as I say them, we will get along just fine, okay?" He quickly nods his head and I continue talking, "but if you do not, well then, I do not need to mention what will happen, correct?"

He gulps loudly and answers, "Yes, boss."

"Good, now go on and get Wiggentree bark, Moly, Dittany, one pint of Horklump juice, 2 drops of Flobberworm Mucus, 7 Chizpurfle fangs, Billywig sting slime, a sprig of mint, Boom Berry juice, one stewed Mandrake, Honeywater, Sloth brain Mucus, Moondew drops, Salamander blood,10 Lionfish spines, Unicorn horn, and Wolfsbane from the ingredients cabinet and make sure to be quick about it."

He gets up and goes to the supply cabinet, but I know that he will be back since he did not write a thing. Well, I will just have to deal with it when he comes back but before that let's get set up here.

I get out a cauldron, my protective gloves (dragon hide), brass scales, and crystal phials, oh, and I nearly forgot, I get out my wand, and o boy let me tell you something, your wand is the quintessential thing when it comes to potionnering and that is because it can do just about everything for you, from swirling, moving things around, and much more.

As I am finishing getting set up, Adrian comes back with a fearful face. I look at him and ask, "Well, did you get the stuff I told you to get?"

"No... boss," he answers with his face facing downward, not daring to look up at me.

I let out a loud exhale just so that he could hear me loud and clear and know how I feel. And he does, you can notice it from the way he tries to visibly make himself look smaller.

"Adrian, what did you take away from the speech that I have specifically tailored for you?"

"You said, listen to what I say and do it exactly how I say it and then everything will work out," he answers back, still looking down on the floor.

I shake my head, "Good it seems like somethings have gotten into your hard head, huh, well let me give you some advice. If you want to easily follow my instruction then make sure that you always have a pen and paper with you because it would make everything a lot easier for me and you since you can just write what I tell you and then carry it out swiftly, so then we won't be having any of this nonsense of you trying to remember everything I say because really who are we kidding, I would be surprised if you were able to remember just 20 of the worlds I have said."

I look over at him and ask, "so why are you not starting to write down what I am saying, muh?"

He hurriedly starts to get moving and grabs his parchments and feathered pen from his bag. "Now I am going to say the ingredients again so make sure you get it down this time and make sure you hurry up everyone is getting started," I tell him the ingredients once again, he quickly writes it all down on his parchment and rushes off to the ingredients cabinet.

As I look at him getting the ingredients from the supply cabinet, I think to myself, these Slytherins are really a weird bunch, the only thing they respond well to is fear and bullying but if you try to be kind them or even friendly to them, they will make sure to step all around you. Now that I think about it this is how they seem to operate as adults as well in the books, bullying nearly everyone to get their way around and fearing those who are much more powerful than them. It would seem like this is just how they are raised, vicious little snakes.

I look at the Gryffindors that are here down in the basement, taking potions together with the Slytherins, they are both so different from each other. One response to fear and bullying and the other one responds to friendship and kindness.

It looks like the idea that 'different people respond differently to the same situation' is more than true.

c 40

"Now that we have all the ingredients that we will need for making the Wiggenweld potion right in front of us and also all of the equipment that we would be using, we can finally get started on brewing the Wiggenweld Potion," I say to Adrian Pucey.

I roll up my sleeves and look up at Adrian, "so we have already done this plenty have times, so what is the first thing we should be doing, when we will be brewing a potion?"

"That one is easy, boss, the first thing we need to do is to make sure that you have all of your ingredients up to the standard, or else, as you have said, you are setting yourself up for failure," he quickly answered me and I can see that he is feeling a bit smug with the way he puffed up his chest, if he hadn't caught my questioning look I guess he would have already started to beat his chest like a gorilla.

I internally shake my head, you look away from them for one second and they are already starting to act like a curly haired baboon. Anyways the point he made is correct, without ingredients that are up to the standard your potion is bound to fail. For example, these Wiggentree bark need to be fresh and not old or wilted or else potion will not be as effective, another one is these Moly which has to come with a black stem and white flowers.

"I will be weighing and measuring the things that need to be, crush the spines, and stewed Mandrake so all you have to do is blending the ingredients that need to be turned into a juice, can you do that?" I ask him but it's not really a question, more of an order, but he nods his head and adds "Yeah, I will get right to it, boss," in confirmation and we both get to work setting up our ingredients before we start brewing the potion.

As we are working on preparing our ingredients, Professor Snape slowly strode around the dungeon classroom, watching every student working on their potion with his black soul devouring pairs of eyes.

"Okay, are you done with the task I gave you, Adrian?" He nods his head, "Alright, now then let's get started on brewing the potion."

"So, the first step is to add salamander blood until our potion turns red. Then we shall stir it until the potion becomes orange." I look up from the book to see if he had followed those two instructions correctly, but I see that he has not even moved, I sigh. "What are you waiting for Adrian, do you expect me to do a grunt's work?"

"It is just that I fear I might mess this up, you know, big explosion."

"Do not worry about that, what did I say just a few minutes ago, if you follow my instructions, nothing will go wrong, I promise, okay!"

He nods his head, I look at him and say "okay, now get started on the two steps that I have just mentioned to you."

He added the salamander blood then stirred the potion with a cauldron spoon, I would have just used my wand to do it, but everyone cannot be as good as me I think to myself narcissistically. Adrian gaze takes me away from my thoughts as he waits for me to give him the next step, I put on a show of nodding my head to him, for his correctness in following my instruction, just so he does not catch on my mussing then I continued on.

"Add more salamander blood, this time make sure it turns yellow. Then stir it again until the potion turns green. Then add more salamander blood, one final time until the potion turns turquoise." I look from the corner of my eye and see that he is doing good, so I read on

"Next we need to heat the potion until it becomes indigo." Once I say that step, I look back at him to see if he might have gotten started on an explosion and my eyes nearly pop out when I see what the idiot is doing, "Are you trying to start a fire with a matchstick? Aren't you a goddam wizard, use your wand, you imbecile."

"I do not know that spell very well, so I thought that I might as well make it on my own, the muggle way, you know with matchsticks."

"Give me that," I snatch away the box of matchsticks he has in his hands and put it into my pocket. "First of all, you are an embracement to all wizard-kind and especially me, how do you not know the Fire-Making spell, it's first-year material? You know what, I do not want to know, here let me do it." I wave my wand in the shape of a crude flame and say the Incantation 'Incendio' then a flame appears under the cauldron.

I wave my arm to him and say, "okay let's get back to making our potion."

He doesn't even know a first-year spell 'that well', so how the hell does he have the gall of shamelessness boast about his pure-blood.

"Alright let's hurry it up here, we got few more steps then we are done. Next we will be adding five lionfish spines..."

As time went by we move along on the process of finishing up our potion, I would give out the instructions and some times do a few spells to speed along things and make the process easier. Adrian would do the grunt's work as I like to call it, he would stir the potion when the need would come and add the ingredients I tell him to.

"Okay, add a few drops of boom berry juice then just stir the potion again, after that let it simmer for thirty minutes and then we are done."

We finish letting the potion cooldown, I ask Adrian to clean our station then I go up to Professor Snape, who is sitting at his desk.

c 41

We finished letting the potion cooldown, I asked Adrian to clean up our station then I got up and went to Professor Snape, who was sitting at his desk, with my completed Wiggenweld Potion.

Professor Snape looked up from his paperwork, and stared at me with raised eyebrows, "to what do I owe the pleasure, Mr. Lovegood, there is a good 10 min left until the class is over."

I keep it short and simple, and answer back to him, "I have finished brewing my potion, sir." I hold out my hand and in it is a crystal phials with a green liquid sloshing around inside it.

"You are already finished, hm, let me see what you have brewed," he said and stuck out his hand from his dark robes. I hand over the potion to him and wait back as he slowly inspects the potion.

"Mhh, it seems like you have followed the instruction precisely that is all well and good, but I expect more from you, Mr. Lovegood." He turns away from my potion and looks up at me. "Try experimenting with different ingredients and see if you can improve the formula. Other than that, you have done well, you and your partner will get full points." He hands me the potion, "clean up your station then after that, you are free to go."

"Thank you, sir!"

It is very easy to deal with Profesor Snape if you are just a little bit competent and do not make a mess in his potion class then it is more than enough if you were a Slytherin but if you had been a Gryffindor you need to show a great deal of skill and respect, oh, yeah and you must not have anything to do 'the boy who lived' because that would immediately ruin any prospects you have with him.

"So, what did Profesor Snape say we get, boss?" asked Adrian as soon as I got back to our station.

"We got full points on our potion, and we can leave as soon as you are finished cleaning up here," I said to him as I start packing up my stuff.

"I am all done here." I nod my head, "Well that good, you can leave whenever you want, and yeah, wait up, before you run off, here take this." I toss him the Wiggenweld Potion.

"You are giving me the potion, are you sure about this, boss?" Adrian looked at me in surprise.

"What can I say, you have earned it, anyways I have made myself a few of the potion so just keep it, you will never know when you might need it so make sure you keep it near you because this school is very dangerous, not safe at all for kids."

I think about what will be in store for the school in the future giant three-headed vicious dog, killer giant snake, evil wizard running around, and all sorts of monster just sitting right next door in the woods add it all up and you get one of the best wizarding school of Europe.

I look into my inner pockets and see that three Wiggenweld Potion are in them, I have them for in case help does not arrive in time, can't be too safe in a school where danger is just around the corner.

"Thanks, boss I will make sure to keep it with me all the time."

"Atta boy got to make sure you keep your priority straight." I nod my head, "Well, see next time for potions." I grabbed my school bag, waved goodbye to the twins who are still working on their potion, then left the potions classroom, and went out of the dungeon.

I was walking through the ancient medieval hallways of Hogwarts, going to my next class which was Herbology.

As I was turning the corner I heard a shout, "Hey wait up mate!" I look around and see the twins running towards me.

What the hell do they what this time, I think, as I wait for them to catch up to me.

"What is the rush, Caelum!" Fred says through panted breaths as soon as he catches up to me. "Yeah, what is the big deal, we had our big heist coming up, we need to plan," says George.

"What heist?" I ask confused.

"Did you already forget," Fred asks incredulity. George puts his hand on his brother's shoulder and shakes his head in an exasperated matter, "I think he did, twin," he answers.

I look at the two of them and roll my eyes, "I am totally on board, it is just that I need a reminder of what we are going to be doing."

The twins who were hugging each other and looking like they are close to tears immediately separated from each other and had bright smiles plastered on their faces. One placed his hand on my shoulder, the other one grabbed my hand and lead me away from the now crowded hallway as everyone was now getting out from their finished classes.

"As expected of our good old buddy," said Fred as he took me to a corner with no one nearby. "Yep we always know we could always count on you," added George, he started to scan around the area to make sure that nobody could listen in then he leaned in and whispered, "we are breaking into Filch's office."

Fred nodded his head to what his twin said, "yeah remember the source who told us there is a lot of magical items that Filch confiscated over the years in his office. (ch.28)"

"Oh yeah, you guys are talking about the info Peeves gave you."

Now I remember this must around the time that the twins steal the Marauder's Map from Filch's office.

"Hey he does not have to be Peeves who told us," said George frustratingly. "Yeah we could have more than just Peeves as a source," added Fred.

c 42

"Hey, our information does not have to be from Peeves," said George frustratingly. "Yeah he is right, we could have more than just Peeves as a source," added Fred.

I put place a hand on Fred's shoulder and the other one on George's shoulder. This will teach them a good lesson about not playing with me.

With a bright smile on my face I speak in a kindly warm elder tone and say to the both of them, "listen up here guys, right now, at Hogwarts, you guys are just the little kids, so nobody will be following you or for that matter be even taking you seriously, but as you get older and you become 5th, 6th, or 7th year students all those little bright-eyed first years and second years will look up to the both of you like role models. But, word of advice, you shall need something to differentiate you from the rest of the crowd because there is like what, 20-30 first years alone in Gryffindor. Now that means there are around 80-120 first years in Hogwarts, and if you were to count the whole student body that would be 560-840, so you would really need to have a thing going on for you that makes you guys stand out from the rest of the student body then you will not need to fret over being obsolete or mundane. Then after you have your thing it would be your time to shine."

I looked at both of them right in the eyes and asked, "kapch kapsh, hmm." They looked at me with questioning looks on their faces, it would seem like they did not understand, so I try to clarify, "It means do you understand."

"OH, yes, yes, we did, so anyways you are saying if we have a 'thing' then we will be popular," asked Fred.

I nod my head slowly for just a tiny bit, "Yeah, I guess, sort of."

They look at each other and ask me at the same time, "Well, us breaking into Filch's office would take us to the top no matter what."

"Yeah, while we are at it let's break into the library and get ourselves some wickedly powerful spells."

Hey, all I wanted to do was get back at you guys with a small joke and damper your moods a little bit, not sprout out bold aspirations in your hearts. Fuck I really did shoot myself in the foot.

"Listen up here," I shout angrily at the twins then I remember myself and where I am in, the Gryffindor common room. I speak up again but this time in a whisper, "I am not taking part in your plan at all, we will get caught no matter what if we go through with it, so count me out.

I lay back on to my chair and turn to stare at the fireplace just so I could ignore those two, but I cannot shake them off since I keep on hearing the both of them slowly whisper my name"Caelum, caelum, c . ae lum!"

I take in a deep breath and let it out, I turn to them and ask in the best calm tone I can, "What do you need Fred, George?"

"We just wanted to say that, if the both of us get caught you too would be implicated in it, so come with us or stay here, we will all be in trouble if the two of us were to be caught."

My eyes narrow, "you guys wouldn't." My mind spins as thoughts ran through then I catch on to one and say to them smugly, "even if you blew me out I wouldn't get in trouble since I wasn't with the both of you, hah!"

Both of them look at me with a knowing smile and then Fred speaks up, "That is not really the point Caelum, ever since we were kids, the three of us were always together and we did nearly everything together so when we are caught, Filch will absolutely make to point you out and why wouldn't the Professors assume it because they know that the three of us always stick together."

Dang I think to myself as I rub my nose bridge trying to hold back the massive headache, I know what these two damn devils are saying is true, I turn to George who continues on from where his twin left off, but what nearly bursts my nerve is that he is absentmindedly picking his nails as if there is ain't a thing he gives a care about in this world. "If we tattle or not, you, Mr. Lovegood, will be implicated, either way, if we were to be caught," George says.

"Hey, hey listen up," I say trying a different approach, a more soft tone "that right there is blackmailing, you guys wouldn't do that to your best friend would you, huh?"

Both of them place their hands on their chests and put on shocked expressions, Fred speaks up "We would never blackmail a good friend, all we are doing is stating the facts anyways it is you that I am worried about, abandoning your friends while they risk their necks for you."

I looked at them confused, "What do you mean by 'we are risking our necks for you'?"

"We are trying to get you very useful magical artifacts from Filch's office and even powerful spells to boot! Anyways we know you want those cool toys and powerful spells, Caelum."

I really do what so see what Filch has in his office and gets some useful spells, but there is no way I am admitting that to these devils. "Okay look we cannot hit both the library and Filch's office that would be stupid since we will be drastically increasing the chance of us being caught so lets just hit Filch's office and we can hit the library some other time."

They look at me with smiles on their faces, "So you are on board?"

I snort and say, "what other choice do I have."

c 43

"Okay listen up here, we cannot hit both the library and Filch's office at the same time, it would draw to much heat to us and drastically increasing the chance of us being caught," I say to twins who are craning their necks to listen in on what I have to say. Of the three of us, I have always been the one to think of things strategically and make sure that our plans work out smoothly. But they, on the other hand, have always been the wicked touch.

"You know, if we take Filch out of the picture we could do as we please since not a single soul would be awake that late," Fred says with an evil smile on his face.

George also wickedly smiles, nods his head along to what his twin just said and then adds, "That right there is a brilliant idea twin, it could really work, and you know from what I heard his magic is abysmal."

No, you lunatics he has no magic, he is a flipping squib, but there is no way I am going to tell them that at all because that sort of information would seriously embolden them.

"Listen up here, sneaking around at night and attacking a staff member are two seriously different things. The first one, nobody would care because which student here did not wander around past curfew time doing gods knows what, but the other one, ohohoho, that would bring us ruin and destruction, all the Professors and maybe even Dumbledore, himself, would come out and get in on the hunt of catching the person who dared attacked a school staff member and with the spells at their disposal and our abysmal defenses, we would be caught in a matter of minutes and there would not be a slit slap on the wrist but at best, immediate expulsion or at worst we could be sent to Azkaban."

As I kindly point out each and everything that would happen once they decide to go through with their so-called 'brilliant idea' the twins become paler and paler as they hear things go wrong at every turn and once I mention that Professor Dumbledore would join in on the hunt to capture them their eyes go wide-eyed as if it would pop out. After I conclude speaking about their awaited fates, they were shivering all over.

After a long while, Fred speaks up, "So you are in implying that we should break into either one of the locations tomorrow or sometime in the next few days and for the other one we should sneak in some other time in the future?"

I nod my head and answer back, "yeah that sound about right." They look at each other and nod their heads to each other, from my best guess, in agreement.

George looked at me and asked, "So which location should we break into first?"

"The library is well guarded, and all the Professors know that some kid would want to get their greedy hands on some very powerful and useful spells," I look at them in a knowing smile and they just roll their eyes at me. "I wouldn't be surprised if I saw Filch prowling around near the library, so our best bet is to find our way to Filch's office and break in, nobody would expect that especially Filch because who would, they would all think, want to break into a glorified janitor's office."

Fred awkwardly scratches his red hair, "So Caelum, do you know where Filch's office is?"

I pause for a moment and nearly hurl out a sling of profound curses at these two knuckleheads, but I hear somebody speak up, "If you want to find Filch's office it is located at Room 234-00 which is connected to the Entrance Hall, that is on the Ground Floor of Hogwarts Castle."

I was so alarmed that my soul nearly took flight from my body, I turned to where the voice came from and saw that it was Charlie Weasley looking at the three of us with a smile on his freckled face.

It would seem like we were so engrossed in our conversation that we did not even notice Charlie had sneaked up on to us, you would have thought that a big stocky man (he is an adult by wizard law) like Charlie would have made a bunch of noise when he crept up to us, but he did not even make a sound. No wonder he made a good Dragonologist, it takes a lot of skills to tame and study a dragon, they are widely regarded as the most terrifying, yet awe-inspiring magical creature and it takes skill, not a lumbering oaf.

"Oh, Charlie what brings you here," asked George nervously. "I thought you were busy doing some work-study experience just like all the other 7th year students."

"I am done with winter work-study, all that is left is to see the Antipodean Opaleye this summer in Australian."

I know the games is up, he must have heard a lot of what we said so there is no use of skirting around the main issue, "So how much did he hear of what we were talking about, Charlie?"

The twins' eyes widen, and they nearly jump up from their chair trying to cover my mouth, I would think but they hold themselves back since they realized there is no point, so you might as well face it head-on now.

Charlie drops his wide smile, "I came around the part where you were lecturing these two about what could happen if you were to attack a staff member of Hogwarts."

I sigh, I had hoped but it seems like our plan has been found out, I wait and continue to listen to what Charlie has to say.

"You know Caelum had saved you guys from a lot of trouble, even though 'he who must not be named' has been gone for quite a while now but...

c 44

I sighed, I had a bit of hope that Charlie was talking about something else and this isn't really happening, and we really didn't get caught red-handed, but it would seem like our plan has been found out from the get-go and we aren't even getting a chance to carry it out.

I should seriously learn a spell that prevents eavesdropping, I think to myself, maybe the Muffliato Charm or the Imperturbable Charm could do.

I turn away from my thoughts and listen to what Charlie has since we are at his mercy now.

"You know, Caelum here has saved you guys from a lot of trouble, and when I say a lot I mean a whole lot."

The twins sigh, and Fred says, "Yeah we know."

Charlie looks at them frustratingly, "No you do not," The twins look at him as wondering what he wants to say, even I lean forward to listen in. "Even though 'he who must not be named' has been gone for quite a while now, everyone fears that there might be somebody else who raises up and takes 'he who must not be named' place and bring about blood, death, and chaos just like he did. So, anyone that shows even the slightest inclination of going down the same path as 'he who must not be named' would be swiftly and promptly put down with no question asked."

Charlie pauses there for a while to let what he just said sink in the twins and also to give them some time to piece together and understand what he just revealed because it is shocking even to me, but Charlie's revelation does clear up a lot of things. For one it explains why so many people were quick to believe lies about Harry Potter, in the books. People might adore him and appreciate him for taking out Voldemort when he was a baby, but when they see that lightning bolt mark on Harry's forehead not only does it bring upon a sense of respect, but it also brings fear. Fear of what he might become and accomplish when he grows up, and especially the fear that he might go down the same path as Voldemort because if he did who would be able to stop him since he was already as powerful as the greatest, terrible yes, but the greatest wizard in modern history.

But besides that, my view of Charlie keeps on getting higher and higher not only does he have skill, but he also has sight and clear understanding because not that many people can lok at things for what they are.

Anyways the revelation did sink into the twins, the aghast expressions on their faces could tell me all that I need to know.

I clear my throat and ask the question that really needs to be asked, "So what do you want to do us, tell our parents or maybe..."

Charlie held out his hand in a sort of gesture to make me stop talking, "I do not plan on doing anything to you guys," he says.

Fred and George looked shocked, I am also slightly shocked, but mostly curious about where things will go.

Charlie lets out a hearty chuckle and says, "There is no need to be shocked, I actually approve!"

"Ah, from the looks on your faces I can tell you must be wondering why I am not going to get you guys into trouble, huh."

"Ohm, yeah!" said the twins at the same time.

"Look, I can understand why Professor Hagrid is a staff member here at Hogwarts, once you get to know him you will know he is the best magizoologist around these parts once you overlook his tendency to undermine the dangers behind certain magical creatures. Professor Snape could be harsh but again just like Professor Hagrid be is the best in his field, nobody is a clever innovator in potions than him. Professor Flitwick maybe a half-goblin but once again he is the best at his field, and he is even a dueling champion. On the other hand, Filch has an extremely unpleasant personality. Despite working at a school, he hates all kids, despises most of the students and even some of the staff members."

"So, you are saying you hate him?" asks Fred before Charlie could answer George adds, "man, what has he done to get on your nerve?"

"I do not understand what the two of you are even going on about, is there like a point of Charlie and gaining his disapproval?" I ask.

"Oh, it is good that you asked now before you got on his bad side," said George. "Mh, yep because if you did you would have been in for a lifetime of suffering," added Fred. "Remember that poor muggle boy back in the town, Ottery St Catchpole?" asked Fred. "Yeah, I still get nightmares of what happened back then." I shake my head those two are now in their little world.

"So, you want us to get revenge for you?" I ask Charlie.

"What? no, no you guys can just carry out whatever you are planning, I will not be getting in your way."

I smile at him "seems to me, you want us to get a little bit of revenge for you, but whatever. All I want is some information, you have been at Hogwarts way longer than us so is there something we should watch out for?"

"There is not that much you really need to look out for except Filch and his cat, oh yeah, you should also look at for Peeves he will call Filch on to you if he sees you, other than those three, there are not that many people walking around so late, they are all asleep."

I nod my head, that was pretty much what I guessed, I look up to Charlie and say, "Thanks for the info!" He nods his head and walks to his dorm room.

I look at the twins and say, "let's get planning."

c 45

I turn back to the twins and say, "So, let's start planning!"

Fred looks at me and asks, "How are we going to go about this?" George nods his head and says, "Yeah, although Filch is going to be the only person we will have to go through, still he knows the school like the back of his hand, so ain't going to be easy at all."

Although it pains me to do this, I say "I already know that, so that is why I will be willing to take out a potion from the stockpile I have built up."

Ever since I have started to brew potions as a kid at home, I have been slowly and steadily building up a great big stockpile of potions inside my suitcase. I have always told myself that I am going to save it for a rainy day, but deep down, I know that I have really become like a stingy dragon that cannot help himself from hoarding all of his treasures. What can I say, every time I look at all that I have accumulated thanks to my hard work and dedication, it brings me great pleasure and joy and I cannot help fantasizing that one day I will not be having only basic and intermediate potions in my stockpile, but advance, rare, and even legendary potions.

The twins looked amazed that I am willing to take out a potion from my suitcase, ever since I had shown them, all the potions that I have gathered in my laboratory that is located in my suitcase, they have been begging me to let them use only one but sting old me had refuse. I told myself if I were to give in just like that and hand over a potion to them, it would not end well at all. I would do it once and then there will be a second time then a third time, it would keep on going until I am all out of potions, so I adamantly refused them.

I frustratingly look at twins who are nearly jumping in joy, take a deep breath I tell myself, it is just going to be this one time then I promise, I will never go digging into my stockpile again, but a part of me, the greedy part, is shouting, you are going down a slippery slope, you fool.

"Although it pains me, and I rather face death head on, I am willing to take out just one potion from my stockpile so that this plan can come to fruition."

George asks me with a wolfish smile on his face, "what potion are you going to take out?"

"The invisibility potion," I answer through gritted teeth, I cannot help feeling like weeping. This potion took me a lot of effort and I had only just recently been able to make two batches of them.

They look at me in surprise, "Wow, so you are willing to bring out the good stuff, man you are pulling no stops, muh?"

"I might as well bring out the good stuff" I say. "since I am going to take out a potion anyway, might as well make it something that is helpful. Anyways wipe away those grins off your faces and start spewing out ideas."

Fred speaks up and says, "We could ask Peeves for help, he could..."

I shake my head and immediately shot down that idea, "No, I wouldn't be surprised if Peeves sold us out. As much as he likes causing problem, he sure as hell likes getting people into trouble even more."

George shrugs and looks at his twin and says, "Yeah Caelum is right, Peeves is can be helpful sometimes, but he is mostly unreliable. You won't know when he might flip against you. He is chaotic like that."

"Alright, I am willing to consent to that, so what about if we transform into our animagus form and then..."

"Nope," I say while making a clear x with my hands. "That would draw way too much attention to us, two monkeys and a tiger running down the hallways, anyone with half a mind would start to get suspicious." Anyways I want to keep this a secret for as long as possible, there is no way I want to be registered with the Ministry of Magic at the Animagus Registry.

We continue to think to ourselves silently, until George speaks up hesitantly, "Tomorrow is Hogsmeade weekend trips, I don't know if that is helpful but take it or leave it."

I take that bit of info into my mind and slowly processes it, my mind spins with countless thoughts. Finally, after a while, I say "Yeah we could use that."

The twins look at me and at the same time ask, "What? Tell us"

"Wait," I say as my fingers slowly and rhythmically rap on my thigh while I think. "We could use that," I say absentmindedly.

"Stop acting so mysterious, tell us what you got!"

"Calm down, I am going to," I say. "I was thinking that during Hogsmeade weekend trips, Filch is always standing at exit examining the students' permission slip and what they bring in after they come back, right?" The twins nod their head in affirmative. "We could use that window that we have, right?"

Realization dawns upon them and they grin from ear to ear.

"I will drink the invisibility potion and then slip into Filch's office. You guys stand guard near his office but make sure you do not act dubious or that will bring us attention. Also, make sure that you guys bring Dungbombs with you, that will act as our signal for something has gone wrong."

"After that, we shall get our hands on some magical items."

c 46

"I will slip into Filch's office. I will also bring the invisibility potion with me and drink it only when it calls for it. You guys stand guard near his office and make sure you do not act dubious or you will be bringing attention upon us. Also, remember to bring Dungbombs with you. They will act as our signal if something has gone wrong, okay?"

The nod their head, showing me that they agree.

"Good, after all is done and said. We will be getting our hands on some magical items pretty soon."

Today is the day where nearly all the third-year students and beyond are heading to the Hogsmeade village which is just outside Hogwarts gate.

The twins and I look out from on top of the stairwell as the students head outside into Hogsmeade village, only after being rigorously checked over and then over again by Filch.

We look at each other and nod our heads to each other, "Let's get going!" I say and then we head over to where Filch's office is located.

Just below the First floor and above the Dungeons is the Ground Floor. This floor is massive, you could find most of the courtyards, the Great Hall, the Entrance Hall, the Portrait Room, and much more. On the Ground Floor, there is a wide marble staircase opposite that is the oak doors, this here is the Entrance Hall where the Suits of armor are located.

Far away in a little corner, you can find Filch's office which the three of us have made our way to.

I look at the two of them, Fred and George, then ask. "Did you bring with you the Dungbombs?" They both nod their head. I continue to give them reminders like a worried old nanny, "Good make sure you set it off only if something goes wrong or if Filch comes back. Which I doubt since he will be wanting to stand at the exit/entrance to make sure nobody brings in anything fishy."

"Let's see, is there anything else that I have missed?" I ask the twins. I look at me for a while, expecting an answer or a shake of the head.

Fred speaks up, "there is nothing else, mom, now get inside Filch's office before he comes back. You are killing a lot of time." He says in a half-joking and half-exhausted tone. Well, I guess he must be tired of me repeating the plan a million times these past two days. What can I say, I love it when a plan comes together smoothly and for that to happen, everyone must carry out their part as exactly described.

"Okay, okay I am going in!" I say and wave my hands in a gesture of sorts, telling them to slow their horses and calm down. We are on the eve of greatness here.

I move out and right before I reach my hand out to touch the door knob, I turn one last time to look at the twins. I give them a wink just to annoy them for the heck of it.

I grab the door knob and try to turn it, but it does not budge. Must be locked I think, a smile splits my mouth, this is going to be too easy.

I take out my wand and then make the correct wand movement, a circle with a line that crosses the middle, and say the incantation.

~Alohomora~

The door clicks open, no wonder wizard and witches call this charm a Thief's Friend. I turn to the twins and give them a thumb up in a sort of gesture meaning there is no need to worry.

I slowly open the door and then head inside the office.

As I stick my head in I am greeted to the sight of a small and simple room with a single oil lamp hanging from the ceiling. I sniff the air and notice that fried fish permeates throughout the air in the room. There is a desk in the middle of the room and on it is well-polished chains and manacles. There is a small boiler in one corner and an old worn out sofa in another corner. In the back, there are sheets halfway coving what looks like a small bed.

I stop checking out the room and look at the filing cabinets which are covering every corner of the room. I head over to them and look inside. In it are details of all the misdeeds Hogwarts students have carried out. Creep or not, somebody needs to help this guy get a new hobby.

I cast a casual glance at all the filing cabinets looking for the one I have come here for. Then my eyes fall upon one cabinet that is marked "Confiscated and Highly Dangerous."

Yes! I shout inside my mind. I have found it. I briskly walk up to the filing cabinets marked "Confiscated and Highly Dangerous" and open it.

Inside our all matter of items, ranging from big to small, heavyset to lightweight, ordinary to peculiar.

I look at all these items up for choosing. I cannot help myself from wanting to taking it all and shoving it into my robe, but I have only so many pockets.

I look around the cabinet. First of all, I mentally cross off all the toys inside like the fanged frisbee, the nose-biting teacup, the dragon model, exploding snap, and much more. NO toys I tell myself.

Next, I look at the things which obviously just trash.

Finally, I coss out the items that are practically useless in my eyes since they can be found in any store.

With the toys, the trash, and the useless items mentally crossed off, that cuts thing down a lot, all the to a little over 10%. The only thing left now is the rare good.

c 47

With the toys, the trash, and the useless items mentally crossed off my list, that really cuts down things by a lot, all the way to a little over 10%. The only things left now are the rare good.

The first thing I take out from the filing cabinets is the Marauders Map. I already clearly know what this is and what it can do. I stuff it into one of my pockets in my robe.

The next item I pick up is a Mokeskin pouch. These are very rare goods, you could use it for storing items, which nobody but the owner can take out. It appears quite small on the outside, but it has an enchantment which allows it to have much greater carrying capacity than any Muggle pouch of comparable size out there.

I wonder if it already has an owner. I try to open it and it does open, seems like nobody owners it. I wonder how Filch got his hands on it. I look inside the pouch and see that it is empty. I shrug my shoulder, beggars can't be choosers, I joke. I close it up and put it away into one of my robe pockets. I could give it to one of the twins since I already have a suitcase as big as an island inside.

I pick around in the cabinet and take out the next goodies, a handheld vintage lamp. The lamp looks very old and rusted. I would have even passed it off as trash if I hadn't seen those swirly little lines which run over the whole surface of the lamp. I look closely at it and recognize the lines, thay are runes.

This a very interesting find, I say to myself, I wonder what it does. I look for anything to get it up and running then I notice a switch. I flip the switch on and then the lamp starts to glow a blue cool fluorescent light. I look around and see that nothing else has happened. Mh, it seems like I will need to research this lamp a bit more. I stuff it as well into my robe pocket. When I bought this robe, I made sure to add as many pockets as I could. What can I say, a robe without a handful of pockets is not a proper robe at all!

I see a silver chain bracelet that coils around three times and at both ends of the chain there are two snakeheads with tiny emerald eye sockets. I look at it and wonder what this new toy does. I try pressing down upon the eye sockets to see if that would do the trick, but it does not work. I try opening each of the snakes' mouth, but it is wedged tight. I also try banging it on to the floor to see if it would do something, anything, but it also does not work. I look at it for a while and ponder, maybe it actives on command, I guess.

Open Sesame! I say out loud, I always wanted to say that and who really doesn't. The snake-headed chain bracelet still sits upon my palm with no sign of movement like it is telling me, you are an idiot!

Well, let's see who the idiot is when I finally figure you out. I start spewing out words with madness in my eyes.

Jump! Fly! Open! Do something!

None of the commands I give works and I feel like giving up, but the way the chain bracelet peacefully sits on top of my palm, infuriates me. I guess, I had started to lose my marbles. One more time, I urge myself.

Unlock! Nothing, two more times, I plead to myself. I have to beat this damn chain into submission.

Go! At that command, the chain bracelet flies out of my hand and wraps around the closest thing, one of the filing cabinet. I jump back in fright, nearly tripping over, thanks to my own shoes. Holy Shit! I say with my eyes wide eyed in amazement.

I calm my racing heart down and slowly walk around filing cabinet. The chain that was no more than 6 inches is now a good 2 meters long from my estimate. It has split into two silver colored snakes with emerald colored eyes. They both are wrapped around the filing cabinet in a death grip. I continue walking around the cabinet as see that both of the snakes have become so lifelike. I carefully touch one of them and it hisses back at me.

I raise my hand in a sort of gesture which means, I meant no harm. "Wow, guys are sure look like a sight!" I say to the snakes. The snakes ignore me and continue to slowly wrap around the filing cabinet. The cabinet starts to creak under all that pressure that those two snakes are exerted upon it.

That filing cabinet would be finished if I don't stop these two, I think. What would Filch do if he saw his cabinet shredded into pieces? He will know as soon as that, somebody has been inside his office. I need to get these two snakes off the filing cabinet.

I gulp loudly, what if I end up like that filing cabinet? A part of me shouts, let those two snakes trash that filing cabinet, you on the other hand, get out! The professor can deal with it.

No way! Another part of me shouts. We will be found out.

I weigh my options and know that I have to get these snakes back to their chain bracelet form. The risk of Fred, George, and I being found out is too high if we leave like this.

I look at the two snakes and say. "Why don't you two get back to your chain form for daddy, huh?"

The snakes don't even turn to my direction, they just continue on coiling around the filing cabinet.

My patience starts to thin. I shout at the two snakes this time. "Come back, here!" This time my command works. The two snakes fly back to me and as they get closer and closer they get smaller and smaller. Finally, the same snake-headed chain bracelet lands upon my palm. I think I should call it a shape-shifting snake chain.

c 48

I look at the shape-shifting snake chain which is now peacefully resting upon my palm.

I wipe away the saliva that felt like it was building up at the corner of my mouth. It seems like daddy got himself a brand-new killer toy! I gleefully say to myself.

I carefully and attentively massage the chain like you would rub a pet or little child. I start fantasizing letting these two precarious snakes coil around my enemies and crushing them to death. I let out an evil chuckle at that.

After a while, I wake up from my fantasy and give the chain a light quick kiss on one of the snakeheads. I carefully put the shape-shifting snake chain on to my left wrist and then get back to looking for more treasures.

I stick my head back into the filing cabinet marked "Confiscated and Highly Dangerous." I start to look around again until my eyes landed upon three peculiar stones.

They were not your average stones found on the roadside or else they would not have grabbed my attention. No, they were very unusual and mysterious. I picked up the first one. It was a pure black stone one, and it felt as if, it was sucking away all the light near it. The other one was a blue stone, which kept on slowly pulsing rhythmically. The third one was a green stone, that radiated a pure life aura, if I could word it like that, when it touched my hand.

Very mysterious indeed, I muse. I will have to ask my mother what these stones are, when I get back home this summer.

I shove the three unfathomable stone in another one of my robe pockets.

The next item that greeted my greedy little hands was an orb that was caramel colored. As I was looking over the caramel tinted orb, I heard a big BOOM! After that, a putrid odor seeped through the cracks under the door and then wafted throughout the whole office.

Shit! I yell to myself, that must have been the Dungbomb that has gone off.

I hastily put the caramel colored orb into my robe pocket. Then I close the filing cabinet marked "Confiscated and Highly Dangerous" but before that, I take an 8-sided compass that is in the cabinet, which just draws my attention. I quickly search through my pockets looking for the potion. My right-hand touches a cold flask in my inner left pocket.

Aha! Here is it, the invisibility potion.

I swiftly uncork the flask with the silver colored potion inside and then I gulp down the whole bubbly content in one go. I bring my right hand up to my eye level and watch as it slowly blends in with the environment, until I can only see a faint outline of my hands. I scoff to myself, this should not be called the lesser invisibility potion but the camouflage potion. No wonder people prefer an invisibility cloak, it is to much of a drag to make the rare greater invisibility potion.

I look around the room and ponder to myself, should I run for it now or hide until the danger passes. My mind quickly starts to rationalize things.

I don't know what the danger is or if it is coming to the room anytime soon and the invisibility potion only lets me be invisibility for about 10 minutes.

Escape it is, I choose. The twins must have bought me some time with the dungbombs they have set up, it now or never.

How the hell do I escape then, I muse to myself. I cannot just open the door and head out. Anybody that might be in front of the door would get suspicious if the door had opened by itself and they saw a shimmering outline of something.

I look around the office one more time, looking for another escape route that would help me get away unnoticed. Then my eyes pinpoint something that I have totally missed.

A cat flap!

Haha! Who would have ever thought that a cat flap would become my lifeline today?

With my mind quickly formulates a plan and I carry it out.

I will myself to transform into my Animagus form.

The White Tiger!

It takes nearly a good minute of painful transformation for me to take on my Animagus form. I really need to do more training, I say frustratingly to myself. Now I only have less than nine minutes left until the potion's effect wear off.

Anyways I have now, finally turned into my proper form of the white tiger. When my new form is revealed. I look no bigger than a cat with white fur and black stripes. I have silver eyes and a few specks of golden hair on top of my crown. My tail wipes around and I scratch my itching upper mouth with my paw, must these new whiskers I have grown. I catch sight of myself on a mirror, and my spirit hits rock bottom. Even in my tiger form, which should look majestic. I look like a cute cuddlable creature. I do not know whether I should cry or laugh.

It ain't so bad, I argue. When I grow up, just like the white tiger, I will not be a cute creature any more but a lofty one.

I make my way to the cat flap and slowly stick my head out and survey the surrounding.

My head whipped around left and right, I saw nobody around. Mh? Now, this is interesting. No twins, no Filch, and not a single soul in sight.

I can ponder about this, when I get back to the Gryffindor common room, I voice to myself.

I pass through the cat flap and quickly make my way, far away from the crime scene.

As I slowly prowl the hallways in my Animagus form, I make sure to check for danger. Something smells fishy. Why did Fred and George set off the dungbombs after that they are not around, this makes no sense.

Did they do it for the heck of it? That sure as hell fits the bill for the two of them. No, they know that this is an important mission and for all the years I have known them for they know when to play around and when not to.

My thoughts continue to race as I make my way to the Gryffindor tower.

c 49

My thoughts continue to race as I make my way to the Gryffindor tower.

As I finally climbed up to the sixth floor my invisibility potion starts to wear off.

The damn book, I curse, it clearly stated that the invisibility potion should last me a good ten minutes. It has only been a good five minutes, not ten. I am never going to trust in the fine print, I promise myself.

Anyways I am nearly at Gryffindor tower, just one more flight of stairs and then I will be in the home stretch.

As I turn a corner, I notice Filch's dust-colored cat, Mrs Norris. She too notices me, and we stare at each other for a while. I try to act as cat-like as possible and meow.

The damn beast does not move an inch. Instead, it surveys me with its yellow colored eyes.

I try again to ask it if it could stop blocking the passage.

Meow, meow! I say to the unpleasant cat. Move over you dang thing, I think.

As an animagus not only do you have the rare ability to transform into a particular animal at will. You could also slightly communicate with other animals. I have no idea how it works at all, but you just talk to them and understand them, when you are in your animagus form.

What is wrong with this annoying cat, I think, when I see that it is not budging an inch. I take a closer look at her and see that she is smiling. I immediately recognize what type of smile it is, an evil smile.

Meow, meow! She says to me.

I take in what she has said to me and try to interpret it as best I can, it turns out to be. "You must be that vile human you has hit me with blue light."

I gulp, she has recognized me.

"Kehkehkehe! I am going enjoy skinning you alive, damn human!" She adds as her claws extend out.

I back away slowly and carefully. "Why don't we talk about this, huh?" I ask while I am really looking for an escape route. What else could I do, it would take nearly a good minute for me to transform back to my human form. During that time this foul cat will scratch me to death.

"Over my dead body, human!" She says and jumps at me.

I quickly dodge to the left. I thankfully escape from that right cat swipe, but I trip over my own tail.

Damn, I am still not used to this new form.

Mrs Norris whips her head around to face me and growls. "Stay still for me, human so I could get you." She says to me.

Fuck how unreasonable can you be? Do you want to stay still for you, just so you could give me a beating!

I quickly get up from the pathetic heap of limbs and tails I was in.

Mrs Norris leapt at me. I did the one thing she did not expect, I run at her.

The shocked expression on her stupid cat face was priceless as I quickly run under her belly and then down the stairway.

"Come back here, human and fight me." I hear Mrs Norris yell behind me.

Who said anything about fighting you, you stupid cat. I think evilly.

With each jump, I briskly take three or four stair steps. Not daring to look back at all or slow down for that matter. Since I know for sure that the black-hearted cat is on my tail.

I jump off the final stair step and run down the Fifth-floor corridor. While dashing through the corridor, I crane my neck around looking for a place to lose that cat.

My mind rapidly fires one idea after another. Not the art room or the music room, I think, I will just box myself inside with that cat and I would have no way to escape.

Let's see if I remember correctly, this floor here should be connected to the hospital tower. Yes, I could lose there, in the hospital tower.

I make a left turn and end up in front of the Prefects' bathroom.

Shit that was a wrong turn.

I quickly turn around and try to run for it, but Mrs Norris is standing in front of me.

I quickly stop myself from bumping into her. "Hey why don't we..." Before I could finish what I was saying, Mrs Norris dashes up to me. I try to swerve to one side and I almost succeed but her claw manages to graze my flank.

Hot pain shoots through my mind and I see red. Shitty little cat, I howl. You will pay for that, I promise.

I extend my claws and take a swipe at her since she is so close to me.

While the two of us are fighting. We do not notice that a portrait is hanging across from us. The resident inside the portrait is shocked with the cat fight going on, right below him. Since he himself cannot physically stop it, he starts to yell at the top of his lungs.

A large booming voice comes from the corner. "What is going on Timothy?"

Hagrid fully bearded face sticks out from around the corner.

The answer he is looking for is right in front of him.

"Blimey, I will be damned!" Hagrid shouts, he quickly grabs the scruff of Ms Norris and picks her up, all the way up to his own eye level.

"I know yeh be trouble, been 'specting it all along." Hagrid shakes his head and his great buffy beard also shakes. "Now get out of here, before I whomp yeh ass!" He adds and throws her away, she hisses at Hagrid. Hagrid takes on look at her and she scurries away.

Hagrid turns to look at me and I act like a scared little creature.

"Ar' yeh alright little one, she must have done a number on yeh. Come here." He says while holding out his pan-sized hands.

I continue with my act since I do not want to give myself away. I take a careful step on to Hagrid palm and he picks me up.

"It is goin' to be alrigh' little one I will fix you up at my hut."

c 50

It was only during the next day that I got a general rundown of what happened yesterday. I heard whispers and telltale from what had gone down from the students throughout the Gryffindor common room and the school.

From what I could gather, the twins have set off a dungbomb right at Filch, as he was making his way to his office.

Filch started to chase them throughout the whole school. All around the school's hallways, you could see an enraged, foul-smelling Filch chasing two students with a broom like an angry shrew. To make matters even worse, Peeves saw the commotion that was going on and decided to join in on the fun. He started to drop water balloons on top of Filch's head, he pelted Filch with chalk, and he even pulled the rugs right from under him.

Finally, Professor McGonagall showed up and put an end to all the mayhem.

The damage was done, all the students got to see a wet, bruised, smelly, chalked full, caretaker. He also had a swollen red nose that was from Peeves when he snuck up on to him while he was invisible, and then he grabbed Filch's nose and screamed, "GOT YOUR CONK!"

"So, what is your punishment going to be?" I asked the twins who were seated in front of me. Right now, we are in our dorm room on top of Fred's bed. There are just so many people who wanted to congratulate and speak to the twins, downstairs in the common room.

"It is not that bad. We will just be having detention for the rest of the year with Filch." Answered Fred as he shrugged his shoulder nonchalantly.

I looked at them with pity plastered onto my face and said. "Filch is going to make sure that he makes you guys suffer, you know that right?"

They look at me like I am was a fool. George speaks up and say. "What can he do, Professor Dumbledore does not allow pain to be inflicted on to students at Hogwarts, so besides some light work, what else can he do."

I shake my head, the phrase 'ignorance is bliss' really sums up their situation, I think to myself.

They twins shake my awake from my reverie with their incessant chattering. "What were you able to find in Filch's office?" They both ask at the same time with starlight in their eyes.

"Calm down!" I say to them and gesture with my hand for them to settle down.

"You have no idea what I have gone through to get these items from Filch's office!" I say with a sigh.

They both look at me in disbelief and snort. Fred speaks up in a sarcastic tone. "Come on man, all you did was sneak in and out of Filch's office. We on the other hand," He points at himself and his twin. "Were chased throughout the whole school!"

Fuck this daddy, here was in a life or death battle.

I angrily show them the scar that the vile cat gave me. It was three cat scratches that ran down my left hip. When the twins saw the cat scratches, they loudly gasped and asked me what happened.

I puff up myself and retell what happened yesterday.

It was a great tale, though I might have muddled some of the facts, but who cares when you have a story about an epic cat brawled, because really, who here can say that they have been in an actual cat fight.

After I finish telling my epic sage to the twins, which now that I really think about it, it should be written and published as a novel. I don't know maybe something with a cat in the title. Cat Tales! Cat Brawl! Eh! Whatever I will find a ghostwriter some other time. (author: Is he talking about me?)

Anyways even after I finished my telling my story, the twins are still astonished, shocked, and outraged. Finally, Fred spoke up first. "Man, we need to do something about that cat!" George nods his head to that.

I disregard it. "We will get that cat when the time is right. Now then let get back to the treasures, I have stolen from Filch's office."

At that, the twins settled down and stared at me expectantly, so that I could hurry up with taking out the items from Filch's office.

I slowly take out all the items I stole from Filch's office so that I could build up the atmosphere. One by one, I take out the items from my robe. First I take out the marauders map, then the ancient runic lamp, after that the shape-shifting snake chain, next the three aura, inspiring stones, then the mokeskin pouch, after that the caramel colored orb, and finally the eight-sided compass. I lay all of them right in front of us.

The twins closely survey all the items with enthusiasm. The slowly and carefully look over each and every item, one by one with huge stupid smiles on their faces

Fred looks away from the magical items and asks me. "Do you know what they do?" George also looks away from the items and looks at me waiting for an answer.

I wave my hand in a so-so gesture. "I know what three of them do, but for the rest, I do not have a clue."

"Well hurry up and tell us!" Both of them said.

"Sure, but to be fair, I should have the rights to first pick. I did go through the most danger, and I have a scar to even prove it."

I can see them visibly grit their teeth. "Fine!" they both consent to. I smile happily.

I pick out the shape-shifting snake chain for myself. Why not, this so far is the most dangers object in my eyes. The rest of the items may be as badass, but I do not know what they can do, so snake chain it is for me.

c 51

As soon as I got my shape-shifting snake chain, I sighed in relief and started to rub the chain lovingly.

"What does that one, that you have picked out, able to do?" The twins inquired.

I took a short glance at them trying to convey that I am busy here. Then I got back to petting my shape-shifting snake chain. Who cares about what these two are blabbering on and on about. When daddy here, was able to get you back and is now able to keep you forever.

"Hey!" George yelled and snapped his fingers in front of my face. "Are you even in there Caelum?"

I spin around on to them, then asked in an irritated tone. "Can't you give a man and his loved one some privacy?"

"You do know that the chain bracelet is not alive, right?" Fred asked in a worried tone. I think, he believes that I have lost my marbles.

I clicked my tongue in displeasure. These fools do not even have a clue about how awesome and fearsome my snake chain. I guess I will have to show them an example.

I stare at the twins and ask in a solemn tone. "Do you truly, want to see the true prowess of my snake chain?" They nod their head slowly, unsure of where I am going with this. "Watch closely, and make sure to broaden your minds and allow your eyes to see past the mundane! Because today, you shall see true greatness!" I say to the twins nearly yelling at the top of my lungs near the end there.

They both look at each other with their eyebrows raised in skepticism.

Well, let's see how the two of you look when you see what my snake chain can do.

I place the shape-shifting snake chain on to my left wrist and make sure to point it in a safe direction, then I said the activation command. "GO!"

The chain flew out of my wrist and coil around the dressing drawer I pointed it at. The twins loudly exhaled. They get off from the bed, then they went as close as possible to the two snakes and stared at them in fascination.

"What kind of magical item is this?" Fred asked me with a hint of craving in his tone.

"I call it, a shape-shifting snake chain," I answered back with haughtiness ringing in my voice.

George looks at me with hunger in his eyes. "Caelum, my good old buddy! What do you say to a little trade, huh? I am willing to trade you this shape-shifting snake chain for my pick. How does that sound?"

Fred snorts and waggas his index finger at his twin. "My dear twin, you sure have become stingy. I am willing to trade two of my items for this shape-shifting snake chain."

Before George could answer back, I spoke up and said. "Sorry guys, but there is just no way I could give you my little baby. I and it are connected by fate. So…"

I peeked at them as I was giving them a bull shit answer and my skin crawls when I saw the looks on their faces. They really looked like they were ready to beat me, just so that they could have my item.

I hurriedly cleared my throat and said in a friendly voice. "You guys still did not look at the other items, you know that right?"

I pounded my chest, acting like I am the most trustworthy person ever and added. "I can guarantee you that they are just as good as my item and some are even better."

Before they could ask any question, I briskly grabbed their elbows and guided them away from the dressing drawer and back where the items where.

"Don't worry about anything," I said straightening my back. "I will make sure to explain everything. This here is the Marauders Map, it reveals to you all of Hogwarts grounds. What I mean is that you will not only get to see every classroom, every hallway, and every corner of the castle but also every secret passage in the school and the location of every person. Next here, is the Mokeskin pouch, it may look like a small bag, but it is enchanted to allow it to have a much greater carrying capacity than any Muggle pouch of comparable size. Also, nobody but the owner can get anything out from it."

I look at the twins who are very interested in the two items I just described, but they do not have the same sparkle in their eyes as they had when they saw my snake chain.

I internally cry, if I leave things at that and say I don't know what the rest can do. We will be back at the same standstill. Sigh, why did I have to open my big mouth and brag? I really put myself in a situation where I cannot get out.

My mind spins with ideas, and it comes to only one. I need to go for the broke!

Sorry, bros but I want my little snaky.

"Next is this lamp, once I saw it, I immediately recognise what it was. A soul trapping lamp! There is so much history behind this lamp. For starters, it was once held by a powerful dark wizard, who used it to trap the souls of many muggles and wizards." I took a quick glance at the twins and saw that they were really interested.

So, I continued on with more vigour. "Next is this caramel colored orb, which actually contains a storm." I picked up the next item and saw that it was the 8-sided compass, damn why did I pick this useless one, it does not look amazing at all. Forget it, I already competed to this, so I might as well go through.

"This 8-sided compass is very rare it is able to point you back home no matter what. There was an interesting tale that comes with it..."

"Wait, I thought you did not know what these items could do?" Fred suddenly asked suspiciously. I paused mid-speech and looked at them nervously.

George also looked at me suspiciously and slowly said. "If I remember correctly you said, you do not have a clue about what these items do."

c 52

George looked at me suspiciously and slowly said. "If I remember correctly you said, you do not have a clue about what these items can do."

I broke out in a cold sweat.

"Ahem..." is all I could give as an answer.

I glance at them at the corner of my eyes and see that suspicion is mounting.

Shit, I have truly been caught with my hands in the cookie jar!

Think about something, anything and quickly, I urge my mind. Ideas swirl around in my head, and then I latch on to one particular idea.

The half-truth is the one that I have decided upon.

I look at them solemnly and say. "I have lied to the both of you!"

"Uh?" The two brothers say. They must be shocked, incensed, and confused with what I have said and the only thing that can sum up all that for them is the simple, UH!

I repeat soberly, "I have lied to the both of you!"

Fred speaks up in a tone that shows he is a bit angry but mostly curious. "What do you mean, Caelum?" He asks with his eyebrows raised.

I peered at him with my most earnest face. "What I have said is what mean."

I put a hand on to both of their shoulders and put on a sorrowful face. "I have let greed cloud my mind! I have let it get the best of me!"

I take my hand back and use it to cover my face, to try to convey genuine sadness. I actually do it so that they can have time to understand what I have truly said.

I peek through the slit of my fingers and see that recognition has dawned upon their face.

Now time to change tactics.

"We have all been in the wrong," I nod my head sagely. "I have tried to lie to you guys, and you guys have tried to beat me up and steal my belonging."

Before they could form a though, I whisk them along. "No, no, do not try to deny it. It is human nature to make mistakes. You guys are not bad people. I am not a bad person. It is just human frailty."

"Now let not ruin a good decade of friendship over some worldly possessions, okay?"

I look at each of them in tow. They both nod their heads slowly, still not having been caught up to what is exactly going on.

"Good, let's apologize to each other and leave it at that. We will also make sure to never mention it ever again."

I start with the apology, and they quickly pick up with it.

I evilly laugh to myself, when I see that they both have bought the rubbish I spewed out. That will teach both of them, to never have thoughts about daddy's toys. You two are far too young to play against this one. A good fifteen years to be exact.

If they ever think about it again, they will rationalize it by themselves. We tried to beat up Caelum, who has risked his life and limb to get these magical items. So, it is only fair that he tried to lie to us when he saw that we were ungrateful. Regardless of it all, he was able to admit when he was caught and make amends quickly. We, on the other hand, did not even notice what we did wrong and were only able to mirror his example after he has shown true wisdom.

"Good, now we have apologized to each other, we can get back to picking out our reward." At that, the twins turn to the magical item just waiting to pounce. All though about what went down gone.

"Let do things fairly, first gets the first pick in round one choosing, the second one gets the second pick in round one, and the third one gets the third pick in round one. For the second round of choosing, third get the first pick, second gets the second pick, and first gets the third pick. Finally, for the third round of choosing, second gets the first pick, third gets the second pick, and first gets the third pick. How does that sound?"

The bob their head in agreement. "Good, I am first, who want to be second?" I ask while looking at the two of them.

They look at each other, and George shrugs his shoulders in a gesture meaning he does not care. Fred looks at his twin and inclines his head. "I will be second he says."

"Then pick out your item!"

We start to divide the magical item between ourselves.

Fred takes the caramel colored orb then George takes the lamp. In the next round, George takes the marauders map, Fred takes the mokeskin pouch, and me I take the 8-sided compass just to be fair since I have no idea what it can do. In the final round, Fred takes the black stone, George takes the green stone, and I take the last stone the blue stone.

"So what do these three stones do," asked Fred.

I am feeling slightly guilty about lying to them about the lamp and orb. And when I say somewhat, I mean very slightly, since they have the looks about them, of wanting to beat me up for my snake chain. I tell them the truth.

"I have no idea, but keep them with you at all times, they might show their true worth in your hour of need. Also, I will ask my mother."

The twins seemed undeterred with the answer I have given them. Might be the preaching, I have done just recently, still running its course.

Fred looks at me and say. "Well, now that we are famous, we could start that joke shop you have always been talking about, Caelum."

c 53

Fred looked over at me and said. "Well, now that we are pretty famous, we could get started on that joke shop, you have always been talking about, right Caelum?"

"Uh..." Do these two really want to kill me, we just did a heist and now you want to open an illegal shop in the school.

George bobs his head up and down in excitement. "Yeah, we could finally fulfil our dreams, and I know the perfect spot that we could set up shop."

Fred looks at his brother in amazement. All he asks him was "Really?"

"Yep, there is this disused bathroom on the sixth floor of Hogwarts castle. It is really well hidden, and nobody ever goes there, so we could use that lavatory to open a joke shop. there"

I hold up my hand, in a gesture telling them to slow down for a bit. "Wow, wow, wow. Slow down there, we are under heavy observation here, from Filch. If we do something, anything for that matter, that is suspicious or like what the two of you are planning. Filch will come in and bust our ass before we could say a word."

The twins pause when they hear what I have said.

Fred speaks up in a nonchalant tone. "Stop being a worry wart, Caelum. Didn't you hear what George has said? The place is well hidden, and nobody ever goes there. I really don't think Filch even knows where this bathroom is located."

I feel irritated that these two are going to get me into a bigger mess, but they have a point. If this bathroom is well hidden and has proper defenses in place, there will be no way for Filch to be able to find his way our new shop.

I look at George and ask, "Where did you get this information from anyways?"

George immediately answered back, "Peeves told me!"

Of course, he did, I should have known. He is the only information source the two of you got, I think to myself.

"Well, do you know how to get to this secret bathroom?" I ask George.

George nods his head, "Yeah let me guide the two of you there."

I shake my head, "Show us tomorrow, did you forget that it is late now. Also, people might follow us since the two of you are now well known."

Fred looks out the window and says, "Wow, I totally forget how late it is."

George look at me skeptical way, "Why would people follow us?"

"It is the price for fame, my friends" I answer. You have no idea how bad it can get, fame — Paparazzi and what not would be following people ever where.

I try to stifle a yawn as I head off to the restroom to freshen up.

Tomorrow we can see if this bathroom would be ideal to set up our new shop.

The next day, Fred and I followed George, who leads us down to the Glanmore Peakes' Corridor, which is a passage on the sixth-floor of Hogwarts Castle, located a bit off of the sixth-floor corridor.

The corridor is called Glanmore Peakes' Corridor because it is named after Glanmore Peakes, whose portrait hangs there.

"Come on!" George waved at me and Fred as he turned a corner and come to a head at an old wooden blue door, that could really use a good repair, I reflect.

Fred walks ahead and tries to open the door, but it does not budge an inch. Fred looks at his twin for an answer.

All George does is point at the portrait hanging right next to the wooden door. In it is a man who looks to be in his fifties, he has a white skin tone, blue colored eyes, and red-orangish hair. He is dressed in a blue pirate outfit that comes with a hat, and he is holding a short sword in his hand.

I quickly catch on to what George means and walk up to the portrait. The man in the portrait looks at me and asks in a gruffy voice. "Wha' do yo wants, lad?"

I speak in my most polite tone since I am the one who needs something from this man. "I was just wondering, who you are, good sir?"

At that question, the flood gate of this man's mouth opens wide. "Th' name be Glanmore Peakes! Killer o' the' Sea Serpent o' Cromer, a giant monstrosity that lived off th' shores o' Cromer, Norfolk 'n was makin' trouble thar. Thanks, t' that deed, I got meself a Famous Wizard Card fashioned aft me."

I clear my voice to try to slow him down. I stop with the pleasantry and get to my point as quick as possible, before he drowns us to death with the incessant talking. "I was wondering if you, good sir, could open this door and let us in?"

Glanmore shook his head. "No can do, lad! Yo either know the password, or you don't."

I look at the twins waiting for an answer, and from the blank looks on their faces, I could guess that they don't have a clue. Shit! It looks like it is up to me alone, to figure this one out.

I turn to stare up at the portrait of Glanmore, from what I could gather, unless it is an important place that is under heavy guard like the portrait of the fat lady. The password is mostly related to the portrait.

I slowly rub my chin and think, then a thought hits me as quick as that. With cunning in my eyes, I ask Glanmore, "Glanmore what was the creature that you killed?"

Glanmore loudly laughs, "O' yo mean th' Sea Serpent o' Cromer!" Glanmore pause and his smile slackens, "Oh... I shouldn't have said that."

I smile wickedly, "Sea Serpent!" The door of the bathroom slowly cracks open.

c 54

Glanmore laughed loudly, "O' yo mean th' Sea Serpent o' Cromer!" Glanmore pauses and his smile slackens, "Oh... I shouldn't have said that."

I smile wickedly, thank you very much mister pirate, for telling me the password, I shout in my mind while doing fist pumps.

Still, with that evil smile on my face, I speak the password to Glanmore. "Sea Serpent!"

The door of the bathroom slowly cracks open.

The twins turn to Glanmore and start bowing and scraping. "Thank you, good sir, for telling us the password, we are truly in your debt!" They say in a high pitched toned like they are heralds announcing the king's arrival, but smirks on their faces say other ways.

I regard the three of us and reflect amusingly. No wonder the three of us get along so well, we really look and act like proper villains.

Glanmore looked at us, vexed then said, "Get inside, lads, before I shut the door close!"

"Alright we are going inside, but really, thanks for the telling us the password, even if it was an accident," I say to the man in the portrait. Even if he did not mean it, he did us a nice favor and for that, he has my wholehearted gratitude.

Glanmore turned away from us, while he clears his throat, from the corner of my eye I can see that he has a light blush on his face. Who knew that pirates could fell embarrassed.

I speak to Glanmore but this time in a serious tone. "Glanmore, please make sure you do not blabber to every single person who comes around here, about your life story. You will basically be telling them the password."

The twins vigorously nod their heads, when I say that to Glanmore. Fred speaks up, "Yeah, a lot of people are going to come here now, to see our new shop and some of them will not have the best of intentions. You cannot just blabber away the only thing that his going to defend this place."

Glanmore looked like he is really ready to jump out of his portrait and then give the three of us a good beating, but I guess, he noticed he couldn't. So, he went for the next best thing, threatening. "Get inside, before I stick all yo with the pointy end of my sword." He says to us seething, while wave around his short sword in the portrait.

The three of us laugh at the attempt Glanmore had made to get out of his portrait, while we run inside into the bathroom.

From behind us, I think I heard him use curses that are not for children's ears to hear.

I cast the Wand-Lighting Charm and so do the twins since there is not a single light source to speak off in this place. When we do light our wands, I notice that there are candlelight lamps hanging all around the lavatory, but they seem to not be working at all.

As we look around the place, we were greeted to the unpleasant sight of an old rusty, dust-filled, dirty, and smelly bathroom that is major disrepair which really looks to me like a ruin than a bathroom.

The whole place is a round room. Right in the middle of the bathroom are the remains of what used to be a fountain. I say remains because the whole middle section is gone, all that is left is the outer section and there is nothing else in there but trash.

On the right side of the bathroom are two large blue stained glass windows that show a good view of the forbidden forest but the glass is covered in dust and spider webs.

On the left side of the bathroom is all the bathroom stall, which adds up to a grand total of seven. I open them all and see that they are all dirty and filled with garbage.

From across the door we entered from there is another door opposite us, I wonder where it leads I think to myself. Around the sides of the opposite door, three sinks line it from the right side and another three line its left side.

"We really got our work cut out for us!" Said George, after we finished looking around the whole place.

Fred nodded his head, "Yeah this place is no better than a junkyard."

"I agree with you, Fred but this place is well hidden, and it is protected by Glanmore. I do not think we can find any other place that would be better than what we have right now. So, stop complaining, because this will be as good as it gets." I say and look each of them in the eyes. I really mean what I have said, this place could use a lot of cleaning up. After we are done, we could get our shop set up here since it is a pretty good place.

I look around the place, man just as George said, our work is cut out for us. I turn to the twins and ask, "Do you guys know any cleaning spells?"

The nod their head, with that I sigh in relief. Good, I do not have to waste time and teach them some, I say to myself.

"Alright get started, I am going to see if I could get those candle lights lamps working." I say to them and without looking back I head towards the candlelight lamps hanging around the bathroom.

I go up to the first one, I point my wand at it candlelight lamp and wave my wand in the correct movement and say the incantation. Then I breath at my wand and a stream of bright orange light flies out from it to the candlelight. This is a neat little spell I picked up over the Christmas holiday from my mother collection called the 'Breathing Light' spell.

c 55

We spend the whole day of our Sunday, cleaning up the place.

The only times we went out to take a break was to go downstairs to the dining hall and have our meals.

Other than that, we spent the whole day, dishing out cleaning spells from our wands like the Tergeo charm. Which does the job of siphons off any liquid, such as blood, dust or grease, off of the target you point your wand at.

The other spell we used rigorous was the Scouring Charm. This spell is used to make nearly ever object squeaky clean. The spell is really fun since you can fill a person with soapy bubbles.

Fred was the first person that started firing the Scouring spell and it hit George square in the face. When he opened his mouth, soap filled it. After that, it was all out war between the three of us.

Finally, after our battle was finished, we looked at the wreckage we caused. The entire bathroom was saturated with soap and the three of us were not that much better off.

"Why don't we call it a day?" asked George as we were sitting on the edge of what remained of the fountain.

I looked outside from the blue stained-glass window and see that it is late into the evening.

"Yeah, I agree with you, twin. Even with all this soap piled on top of me, I still feel so grimy." Fred added, and I have to completely agree with what he has said. I feel so itchy and I also feel like that I have not showered for months on end.

"Well, it late anyways so let just go get showered and continue with this tomorrow." I voice, the twins eagerly nod their head and we head off to the Gryffindor tower.

I, Fred, and George came back the next, which was a Monday, after all our classes were done for the day. We got right back into cleaning up the place.

That day we had to use the Scouring Charm only since it is the only thing we know that can be used to clean out smaller infestations of bundimun. It was these little pests that were making the bathroom smell so awful.

We found the little ugly pests hiding in the corners of the bathroom stalls. These pests are a magical creature found all over the globe. It is greenish in color, has many little yellow eyes, they fed on dirt, and could destroy a whole house thanks to their secretions. You could know that they are around by the foul stench of decay that they leave hanging around in the air. With a large enough of an infestation, the building they are held up in could collapse thanks to their SHIT!

The Scouring Charms could clear out only a small infestation. Thank God that it was only five of these ugly little buggers we found or else we would have had to give up on this place because only the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures (Pest Sub-Division) could deal with a large infestation.

We spent a whole month of slow and thoroughly cleaning up the whole place.

Our troubles did not end only with the infestations of bundimun, we found Ectoplasm stuck on to one of the bathroom stall doors.

Ectoplasm is a sticky, viscous green substance left behind by ghosts and other spirits that slowly accumulates over time. In other word is ghost fart. It is really strong, and it could act as a powerful adhesive, but it also harms humans should they come into contact with it, since it is also a poisonous substance.

I had to ask Professor Flitwick for the spell to get rid of the Ectoplasm. It was very difficult work, to get the spell from Professor Flitwick since I had to avoid the question of why I needed the spell. Thanks to being a good student in his class, I was finally able to learn the spell, which is called the Skurge Charm.

This is a really sad spell, I muse we I got it since it only has one use, to clean up ghost fart!

After a month of hard work, we were finally able to clean up the blue stained glass windows, the bathroom stalls, the fountain, and the sinks.

I even put in a lot of hours studying transfiguration since a bathroom is still a bathroom, we need to transform the place into a genuine shop. After long hours in the library, I was ready to get the place set up.

I was able to transfigurate the bathroom stalls into large shelves, were we can place the goods. The sinks were transfigured into cubic display cases, that can hold our latest creation. The remains of the fountain were transfigured into a proper round counter, that can act as cashier station.

"Wow, remember how this place was when we first came here? Now look at it, you won't even recognize that this was the pile of rubbish heap, we started with." George said out loud with a tone of contentment in his voice.

"Yeah, we should have taken a photo from before and then after, people would be amazed at the huge difference," Fred added.

"It is called a before shot and an after shot," I correct Fred.

I look around the place and it is a much better sight than what we came to when we first entered the bathroom, no, I should call it shop.

A dozen candlelight lamps hang all around the place, glowing in a soft golden luminescent light. Seven empty shelves line the left side of our shop, soon they would be filled with merchandises, I envision to myself. The right side of the shop holds nothing except the two large windows, the three of us could not think of anything to place there yet. In the middle of the place is a new stone counter. On the either side of the mysterious doors, line cubic display cases.

c 56

"Hey guys, do you wonder what is behind that door?" Fred asked me and George with an eyebrow half raised.

I place my hand on my temple, "For the hundredth time Fred, no I don't ponder what is behind the door. Also, I do not even really care what is behind the flipping door!"

Fred looks at me and just, so he could annoy me, he says. "You're a buzz killer!"

"No, I am not!" I say crossly, it seems like his tactics are working. "I am the only person here who thinks before he acts. Without me, you guys would be in shambles."

"You're still a buzz kill!" Fred says to me again in that annoying tone of his. All the while he is staring at the door like he couldn't even care less about what I said, and that infuriates to no end.

I waggle my finger at him. "Oh, you are really getting good at this!" I say with a smile on my face, but if you look closer you can see I am shooting daggers at him.

"I see what you are up to there, trying to get me in on board one of your stupid ideas again, huh? Well I am not falling for it, no ser, I am not"

I turn to George and ask him, "George, am I buzz kill?" I put hands up in a sort of gesture emphasizing that I could tolerable anything he says. "Now you can be honest with me, alright?"

George looks back and forth between the two of us. "Why the hell are you two, bringing me into your feud?"

Fred places his hand on to his twin's shoulder. "Come on twin, just be the judge between the two of us. You are the only person who can break this tie."

I too place my hand on George's shoulder and say to him. "Yeah, tell him I am not a buzz kill!"

George shakes his head and says. "There is no way I am getting into this argument."

"Come on, just answer the question," I plead to George.

George nods his head to himself. "You guys won't leave me along until I answer the question, huh?"

"Yes!" I and Fred shout.

George lets out a long sigh, "Fine! I would say Caelum is sort of a buzz kill. Now, are guys happy!"

I nearly jump at him for the answer he dared to give. "What do you mean sort of?" I shout at the top of my lungs, at the corner of my eyes I could see that Fred is making fist pumps.

"What! Didn't you say you could be totally honest with me? Anyways I said sort of, like 40%."

I look at the two of them with my eyes narrowed, all the while shaking my head to myself. "I know that the two of you are working together," I say whilst pointing my fingers at each of them.

"You know what, that is alright," I say waving my hands up. "Let's go see what is behind the door, but if we die or release an unspeakable evil on to the world. I am blaming both of you. Don't look at me like that George, you too are included."

"Who knows maybe we will get to face a Manticore, or a Basilisk. I don't know it could be a dragon or a Werewolf, who even know what the founders hide in these walls." I whisper to myself, but I am more than loud enough for the twins to hear me.

I begin briskly walking to the door, I see that the twins are in step behind, I quickly turn around to face them. "What?" I say to them while spreading my arms wide open. "Are you guys frightened, NOW!" I ask them, with a malicious smile plastered on to my face.

"Well, it is too late now. We are going to do this, like it or not because I am a new sort of Caelum, a cheerful one. So, you might as well get ready to face whatever comes through that door head on."

I continue walking to the towards the mysterious door. I grab the door handle and as I am about to turn it open, I hear a shout from behind me.

I turn back and see that Fred is holding his hand out for me stop. "What is it, Fred?" I ask coolly.

"Ahem, I have put some real thought into it, Caelum and now I have come to see that this is a very stupid idea. You do know how dangerous the school can be, you will never know what might be lurking behind the doorway. So why don't you step away from the door, huh?"

I look at him with my eyebrow raised and then ask, "And?" As I wave my arm around in a sort of circle like fashion, gesturing for him to continue on.

Fred sighs, "I am also very sorry for calling you a buzz kill. That is not true at all, you are the most fun person that I know off."

"That wasn't so hard was it, huh?" I say with a huge grin on my face. I take my hand off from the door handle and the twins let out a long exhale.

"Are you guys done admitting your crimes?" I ask them.

Fred rolls his eyes, "What else do you want me to admit, Caelum?"

"Where the two of you in cahoots?"

"Yes, we were. You are happy now! Well that good, now a deal is a deal so get away from that door."

"Fine, you coward!" I walked away from the door.

"You are such a sore loser," Fred says to me.

"Hah! I won in the end, so it does not matter." I say to Fred and then I turn to face George and ask him. "Anyways, George, you never gave me your apology."

I take a closer look at the guy and see that he is pale, "Hey what wrong dude?"

All he does to answer is point his finger at a direction.

c 57

"By the way George, you never gave me your apology," I said to him. All the while thinking shamefully, now it is your turn buddy to get on your knees and apologize to this young master, hahaha.

Fred shakes his head, "Now, you want to include poor little George?"

I look at him like I would an idiot, "What? Weren't the two of you in cahoots?"

"You made me say that you degenerate!" Fred angrily shouts at me while waving his fist menacingly in front of my face.

"It isn't my fault! You guys started it and I finished it, it is that simple." I said to him as I shrugged my shoulders in an unconcerned fashion. "Anyways you could have won, if only you did not chicken out, near the end of there."

"You are always going on and on, about the dangers that lurk through the school's walls. What was I supposed to do, I heard you whispering that a dragon or a basilisk might be behind the door."

I catch myself as soon as I can, but a sneeze manages to escape. I cover my mouth as best as I can all the while laugh to myself internally, I can't believe you fell for that.

Outwardly I shake my head at him and say sadly. "I tell you all this and you still manage to run headlong into all sorts of dangers," I sigh to myself. "Why do I even try to in rein both of you guys?"

"If it is way too much work for you, then why do you even try, huh?"

I shrug my shoulders and answer him with cryptic future knowledge. "To make sure that neither of you does not lose an ear or your life! Isn't that obvious."

"How the hell, will either I or George lose an ear or their life?"

"Muh, I don't know, you ask yourselves," I said to him nonchalantly.

I pivoted away from all of Fred's incessant questioning and turned to face George. "Hey, George, where is my apology you were supposed to give."

When I don't hear the immediate answer, I was hoping from him. I craned my neck around so that I could face him eye to eye. As I took a closer look at the guy, I was able to see why he was not responding.

The man was as pale as a ghost, I nudged his shoulder with two of my fingers and asked him slowly. "Hey what wrong dude?" I say that I was not getting any answers from him and started to wonder if it was me who caused this.

I quickly decided to relent my case. "You know what forget about that apology. It was both of our faults, muh, how does that sound?"

Still, I was not getting a response, I sighed to myself and said. "Fine! It was my fault, I was a sore loser. Now, why don't you stop faking that shocked expression?" I said to him as I pointed at the look on his face.

"Yeah, you got him, twin, so why don't you stop it already with that freaky expression?"

"Hey!" I say as I snap my fingers in front of his face. Finally, I get an answer from him thanks to my action, but all he does is point his finger in a specific direction.

I look at the direction that he is pointing at, which is the mysterious door. I crane my neck and narrow my eyes as I look at the door that should have been closed is now open by itself.

Beyond the door is a black wiggling throng, and I know for sure that whatever that is, it is alive, I can feel the life coming from it, thanks to all the chittering coming from it.

I clear my throat, "What do you guys say to RUNING away?" I say as I slowly and carefully back away since I do not want to get that 'things' attention.

Fred nods his heads then grabs his brothers arm and starts to drag him away.

All of a sudden a single yelp can from the black swirling mass, and then the black thing pulsed.

"I think we have been found out!" George says.

"You think!" I shouted as I have given up on all stealth and started to run like a mad man. I look back at the person who just spoke up, and it was George. "Oh, I see that you are back in the world of the living."

"Yeah, it is just like as you like to put it. 'My soul has nearly flown out of my body!' Nevertheless, you did not see what I saw, the door opened by itself. By the ways, I think it is a Lethifold."

Fred all the sudden started to laugh. I looked at him and asked in a half worried and half-jokingly matter. "Hey, did you get kicked in the head by a donkey?"

"What? No, I was laughing at George, I am sure as hell he was frightened out of his boots. Did you see his face, it was as white as a sheet."

I opened the door and waved them with my hand to hurry put. "Yeah, I saw it," I answered Fred as I tried to close the door, but quickly gave up on it. Since the black mass started to fly toward us.

As we run away from the old bathroom, Glanmore Peakes who was in his portrait looked at us in confusion and then asked. "Where yo running off to, lads?"

I did not stop at all to answer his question except throw him a single piece of advice. "Runaway to some other portrait, before that thing gets you!" With that, I, Fred, and George were off into the distance.

Glanmore Peakes craned his neck as far as he could in his portrait to see us run off. He rubbed his beard in bewilderment as he sat in his portrait, then he looked at the place we just run away from. His eyes nearly popped out of his eye socket of what he saw then he tailed it.