Hey kids, do you like... magic ? No ? Then what about a little madness ?

7.01 – (6,08 continuation)

The train was crowded. Even the hallways were dotted by teenagers, sitting upon their trunks, talking of their last holidays or the king of food they were feeding to their pets. How the sweets cart managed to progress in such a mess was a total mystery.

As for our two visiting loopers, they only made it out of sheer luck. Squeezed between said cart, the wall and a truck crowned by an overprotective and freakishly out-of-his-mind ferret, the honorary Space-Wolf wanted to be trigger-happy with plasma while the Anchor was tempted to Windblast it all to oblivion and Blink the hell out of here, loop-stability be damned.

When the wall suddenly slided sideway–wall which was in fact a door, too bad they didn't know about it before–they both fell face first in the newly opened compartment.

"Hey, is everything alright?" asked a genuinely-concerned bolt-scarred youngster.

Raising from his embarrassing position, Corvo crossed eyes with their savior.

"We're fine." he said, "Thanks Harry."

"How do you know my name?"

Crap, unawake.

"Everybody knows you Potter, that's the privilege of being a Clan Head and torching Voldemort."

Wait, was that …?

A huge tension flooded the entire wagon, but the boy in the middle of it all seemed totally unfazed.

"Name's Draco Malfoy, nice to meet you." he smiled, extending his hand.

"Yeah … I know of you. What is the son of the infamous Lucius Malfoy doing in the same cart as Harry Potter?"

"Trying to make new friends. The other purebloods were becoming unbearable and I was feeling Loopy."

"I see..." stretched the assassin, finally accepting the handshake.

"We were ourselves out of it, and went looking for an Anchor." added Samuel.

"Well, you know us but we don't. You are?"

"Corvo Attano."

"Samuel Beechworth, nice to meet you all."

"Nice to meet you too. I'm Hermione, Hermione Granger. And this is Ron Weasley."

"H... hi."

The red-head seemed a little shy, or rather intimidated. Must have been a leftover ghostly feeling due to the huge killing intent that Corvo had released on the Malfoy heir earlier.

Said blonde next put both hands on the two loopers' shoulders and beamed a 'too bright to be true' smile.

"Come, I want to talk for a minute."

"So, I guess you've come to Hogwarts already?"

"I haven't." answered the boatman.

"But I have." said the assassin.

"I should have known from your hostility. Bet my unawake self was an ass."

"Yeah, a massive one. But not to me."

"Potter only huh? Then you didn't involve yourself in the course of events."

"I did, but I hung you on top of the school at your first outburst. Then it went smoothly."

"You hung me?"

"By your robes, for a few hours, and there was no proofs that I was involved. You decided I was not worth the risk."

"... Not cool, but I suppose it was a necessary evil. Still, being left alone for seven years just with that, that's probably a record..."

"No, I only did one year. You see, I have that mark that's fueling itself on whatever's on range and mhmfff."

Samuel had just put his hand over the talkative Void envoy's mouth, efficiently shutting his Anchor.

"Sorry to interrupt you, but Ron and Hermione both seemed unawake to me. So who were the other pings from?"

"Fred and George, Ron's brothers and two years our seniors if we're talking baseline. They're also… peculiar."

Still muffled by Samuel's hand, Corvo could only rolled his eyes. Peculiar was an understatement.

"Is that good, or bad?"

"It depends, do you like pranks?"

"We spend our loops ending a coup in a plague-eaten city ruled by egotistical maniacs."

"I'll take that as a yes. Then don't fret, you'll do lovely with the twins. Now please, release your friend, he seems to grow impatient."

"Oh, sure. Sorry Corvo."

"It's fine. So Malfoy, you're working on any plot at the moment? Anything that we can help you with?"

"Not at the moment, sorry. I was merely planning to try another run in Ravenclaw and just go with the flow."

"What about the twins?"

"They're definitely planning something. With them, every loop simply turns into a giant plot. Just be sure not to be at its receiving end, and you'll be fine. Now let's go, we're almost at Hogwarts and the Golden Trio must begin to wonder what we're up to."

"And from what Harry told me, it's not a good thing."

"No, it's not." shivered Draco, reminiscing all the stuff that tends to happen with those three.

"Don't take too much time, we're almost there." Hermione chirped happily, before exiting the cart.

With the girl gone, they all began to suit up. Robes may not be a practical choice, but they were tradition and the magical world was attached to that... maybe too much.

"So," suspiciously asked Ron, "what was all that with Malfoy?"

"He just wanted to know which house we were going for." Samuel responded on the same whispering tone.

"He told you how great it is in Slytherin, right?"

"No. As a matter of fact, he's aiming for Ravenclaw."

"WHAT?"

"Lower your voice Weasley." calmly asked the local looper.

"B... but, you can't aim for Ravenclaw."

The blond raised an eyebrow.

"Why?"

"You're a Malfoy. Everyone knows that Malfoys go to Slytherin."

"Well, I'll still be Ravenclaw."

"But... your father..."

"Has no such rights over my life or control over the school as to force a house on me."

His eyes were defying anybody to say otherwise.

"Cut him some slack Ron, Draco's a good guy." said Harry, a small and somehow apologetic smile on his face.

"Thanks Potter."

"You're welcome. But, why Ravenclaw?"

The local looper proceeded to explain the whys of his choice to the unawake boy-who-lived and the Dunwall visitors. The ambiance got warmer, except for Ron who proceeded to sulk in a corner.

Soon, they were on their way to the school, guided by professor Minerva McGonagall.

Daud awoke some two hours after that. "awoke", minor a, as he had in fact Awoken at the same time as his two fellow Dunwall loopers.

But contrarily to those two, he knew anything about Yggdrasil or fused loops. It was his very first Awakening. Hence why coming out of his slumber to suddenly find himself in an awfully small and furry body was too much for him.

He screamed.

Scratch that, he yelped.

"Hello again, child of the Void. Looks like you had fun in Slytherin, too bad that mark of yours crashed our loop. Anyway, which house will it be this time? Gryffindor, to see the other side of the coin? Or will you listen to me and go to Hufflepuf?"

"Neither." mentally replied the royal guard, "I'll go with Ravenclaw, if that's alright with you."

"Following the Malfoy kid huh? You don't have to be so wary of him, he's become loyal and trustful since he's started looping. Aaaah, but you know that. You've learn to read people almost as perfectly as I read minds. You just want to get to know him then? Well, good luck in RAVENCLAW!"

Said table erupted into cheers.

"Haaa, a new one. Welcome mister Beechworth, to the Hogwarts loop. So you're from Dunwall, just like mister Attano, you're having it as bad as him with mind readings. Ok, I'll admit that you're a little harder to reach, must be your conditioning. Anyway, on to your sorting. You're so much like your Anchor... a cunning mind but no desire to lead, a mindset more fitting a war strategist than a scientist, experiences and skills shaping you into an outstanding soldier and most of all, a heart belonging to a man loyal beyond reason. As you'd even face the Chaos Gods for your friends, I'd set you in Hufflepuf. Now tell me Samuel Beechworth, loyal marine and honorary Space Wolf… which house will it be?"

Rushing into the corridors, the young wizard finally saw who he was looking for.

"Excuse me, Professor?"

"Yes, Mister Beechworth?" replied the staff member.

"I was wondering if I was allowed to take a pet to the dormitories."

"Well, you most certainly are. Why ask?"

"The fat lady in the painting doesn't want to move aside."

"Really? Well, let's talk to her. Don't worry, you'll keep your pet, I'll see to it."

"Thanks, Professor McGonagall."

A lone fox was never at risk. Those beasts were known tricksters, knew how to protect themselves and had one of the best instinct among non-magical creatures.

Except for ones who weren't a proper vulpine, just some nobody stuck as one.

Daud started to walk toward the Forbidden Forest.

Yep, no mystical instinct there.

"My words are finals," grimaced the Fat Lady, "I'm not allowing that inside."

"But..."

"Mister Beechworth, what is this?" asked frenetically the witch.

"That's Fluffly. Cute, ain't he?"

"Where… where did you find him?"

"By the third floor. I heard him whine behind a door."

BARK.

"I know, I just couldn't let you in that awful room, right?"

"... Mister Beechworth, why not take your pet out for a walk? In the meantime, I'll go get the Headmaster and settle things with him."

"Fine by me. What do you say Fluffy? Want to race?"

BARK.

Running after the massive Cerberus, Samuel pouted.

"Hey, get back here. You're cheating."

Looking from nearby, Corvo tilted his head and asked "Will he gets to keep him?"

"I don't see why not, Potter and I did." smirked Malfoy.

The witch frantically stormed into the already shaken room.

Shaken by nothing less than a level 7, if not a level 8 earthquake on the Richter scale. And since the room was underground, the whole school had had a rough time.

Hence why every student she had left in the great hall was still talking loudly, sobbing, crying or undergoing another activity of the sort, pretty much the same as the young ones in there.

"Enough."

Nothing.

"Students, please."

Still nope.

"SILEEENCE."

And silence fell. It was hard to yell at children who had just lived a traumatic experience, but it had to be done.

"Can someone tell me what happened in that dungeon?"

A brave Gryffindor (pleonasm maybe, but it is worth mentioning) took it upon herself to explain what she could to her Head of House.

"Professor Snape was brewing a potion and... he must have made a mistake because... the whole thing blew up."

And as if a dam had been broken, voices flowed out.

"There was smoke everywhere."

"And dust."

"And that weird ooze."

"Yeah, it smelled awful."

"It still does, you've got some on you."

"Hew."

It indeed smelled awful, but that wasn't helping.

"Children please, what of professor Snape?"

"He was eying his cauldron..."

"... very carefully..."

"... when the thing went boom..."

"... so he must be..."

"...gone."

Silence fell once again, a sad (if only a little) silence.

Professor McGonagall was wondering how she would bring the shocking news to Dumbledore. The young sorcerers were smirking evilly as any good-mannered Gryffindor should when in such a situation. As for Samuel, he was thankful for the dust covering the real event, as well as reminding himself to never let anyone confiscate him another plasma gun ever again. Some jackass just couldn't handle such a relic with the necessary care.

"Troll… in the dungeons …thought you ought to know."

His message delivered, the turbaned professor passed out.

"There he goes again." snickered the Dunwall Anchor.

Draco's only comment was a smirk of his own.

The two loopers then sighed in unison when, as Heads of houses and prefects started to yell and tried to get students in line, two-third of the golden trio sneaked out to find the oblivious missing part.

"Should we help them?"

"Nah, it's fine."

"You sure?"

The Malfoy heir grinned. He was.

Now that he was allowed around school, Fluffy spent most of his days playing with his Gryffindor friend and Cerberus could only play so much before feeling sleepy. Matter-of-factly, the girls' bathroom was one of the few big enough places where he liked to nap. Now, the fun part was that Cerberus had an excellent sense of smell, on top of being reeeeally territorial.

That troll was done for the count.

"Albus."

"Minerva, welcome. Cookie?" asked the headmaster.

"No thanks"

"So, what brings you today?"

"It's about young Mister Beechworth."

He sighed. Loudly.

"... What happened this time?"

"He turned Bathsheda into a wolf pup."

"Professor Babbling? Why?"

"It appears that she intended to take Mister Attano to her Ancient Rune class, again."

"So he protected his friend."

"Indeed."

"Right... but why a pup?"

"I don't know. Mister Attano and him certainly are... unique."

Dumbledore thought a whole second about those two boys and the weird situations coming to life around them.

"That they are."

"I'm so, so sorry. He shouldn't have done that."

"Don't worry about it young lad, it should go off fairly soon."

On the stretcher, the current DADA professor was whining softly, covered from head to toe in a weird goo.

In the stands, two Quidditch enthusiasts were tittering. That dumbass had tried yet again to jinx Potter's broom, and since Snape had gone boom, they had been prepared to counteract the spell themselves.

And then, the guy had been licked.

Licked.

In the broken rows where he had seated, Fluffy was still slobbering, totally oblivious to the stares he was getting.

In one of the darkest corner of the Forbidden Forest, a black fox was shivering. Stuck between two thick roots, he whimpered as an "oh-my-lord-that-number-is-high"-pounds spider walked to him. He closed his verticaly slitted eyes.

Praying and begging the Void for its forgiveness was stupid, but he didn't have anything else up his slee... paws anymore.

In the dark of the night, a lone figure tried once again to bypass safety measures.

It shouldn't be that hard, now that the dumb puppy had been allowed to roam the school grounds.

The door closed loudly and something fell on the shadowy man's shoulder. A sticky substance which he knew too well. He looked up, and up, and up...

One, two, three, four, five... six eyes. Sleepy and angry eyes.

A few weeks latter, the school year was over.

After Snape's rushed funeral and professor Quirell's mysterious disappearance, the school program was way lighter and everybody's mood lightened.

All in all, it was a good year.

7.01 – Yep, the small furry thing is Daud looping and he's having a ball… which will soon be a silk cocoon.

The twins may be absent for now, but they are very much awake and plotting in the dark. Don't worry, It'll be revealed by next chapter.

Ravens, wolfs… isn't there a pattern in the Dunwall loopers' transfiguration spells?

Also, it's unrelated but I was planning to have Snape mix a plasma cartridge in his potion. But I then learnt that plasma in 40K wasn't working as in Fallout. No ammo, just a small sun/black hole core-thingy in a thousand year old tech. So yeah, I just had it backfire because of his negligence.

Anyway, that damn chapter is getting out of my hands. There are dozens of plot bunnies running around the studio and they already ate my net. Damn fluffy things. So I'll cut now and give you all a rendez-vous by next chapter. Just that one more and we'll be done with the Hogwarts's fused loop. Then we'll go with small snips again.

See you soon.