Erik sat at the far end of the Phoenix house's table, far away from the next student. He ate his tuna casserole with a book up to his face, hoping that no one would see him. The closing weeks of the semester were closing in and end of semester exams were looming. Next week, he'd be on a magic carpet with Stephanie's family to Europe. He hadn't seen much of her outside of class since Warlock Adler and Mr. Brown's visit in November. She remained quiet and very secretive. But so had he. He never told her or Harris of the nightmares or the night time visits to the library.

An owl startled him. There was a rolled up piece of parchment tied to his foot. Erik took it and read the brief note:

Students, we shall have another meeting. 8pm on the Longball field. Dress warmly.

Professor Dirk Dawlings

This meeting would be the second one. Erik wondered why outside on the Longball.

He ate quickly, then raced upstairs to rummage through his trunk to find his dragon hide gloves, wool scarf, his leather cloak, and thick cotton cape. He put the extra layers on, then pulled the hood

over his head. Harris watched him, but never asked a question about where he planned to go. Erik never minded as he raced out of the dormitory. Stephanie did stop him.

"Where are you going?" she interrogated him.

His blond bushy eyebrows rose. "Are you my mother?" he asked indignantly.

"Sorry," she said. "Don't forget that we have astronomy tonight. I don't want you to be late."

"You're not worry about that. You really like to know where I'm going."

She nodded.

"One of Professor Dawling's meetings."

"I'm just as talented as you are. Why am I not invited? I even have better grades than you!"

"Jealous much?" he snickered, enjoying the conversation.

She grumbled and walked away.

**

He opened the heavy oak doors on his way outside. The grounds were icy and the bitter wind howled, biting his bare face. The nearby village's smoke could be seen over the tops of the evergreen forest. He envied the warmth of the cottage as he raced to the longball field in the extreme northwest corner of the school. The goal posts exactly one hundred yards apart gleamed orange against the dead, brown grass. The white circle in the middle of playing field, where Professor Dawlings and the rest of the group waited, was faded and barely visible. There were several dozen lighted torches encircling the group with a radius of about twenty yards.

"Good to see you," Professor Dawlings greeted. "As I was telling the rest of the group, we are going to work on spells that you wouldn't normally learn in class. These spells are more specialized to more illustrious careers like an auror or a codebreaker. They require a great deal of concentration and skill. Wands out."

The students took out their wands.

"Up, down, and a clockwise circle," he said. "Follow me." He made the movements with a slight flick of the wrist. Erik copied it. "Excellent." He moved eight cabinets to the far side of the field in front of each student and himself. "Now, I will show you a most exciting spell that I'm sure you will enjoy, especially the gentlemen. You will blow up those cabinets with this simple incantation. Confringo. Concentrate on the object at hand and say the incantation clearly."

The students watched him as he waved the wand and shouted the incantation. A loud boom followed as the cabinet blew up, throwing splintered wood everywhere. Jack applauded loudly and cried, "Awesome!"

The professor bowed graciously. "Thank you, students. Now, you try."

Erik hesitated as a seventh year blew up his cabinet on the first try. Even Jack accomplished the task on his second try.

"Mr. Erikson, give it a try," the professor encouraged.

"I bet he won't be able to do it at all," Jack teased.

Erik followed the hand movements exactly as the professor had, then said the incantation clearly, imagining blowing up Jack's smug face rather than the cabinet. The cabinet blew apart.

"Excellent!" Professor Dawlings exclaimed. He clapped him on the back.

The rest of the session lasted another hour with the students casting invisibility spells on each other and uncovering each other under those spells. Erik beamed with pride at the end of the session because he had performed as well as the sixth and seventh year students. Each student except Jack congratulated him. He began to cross the field to return to the castle, when Professor Dawlings called him back. He reluctantly returned, not only because the temperature continued to plummet, but also since he knew he'd enter into an awkward conversation with him about his father.

"I know that at the last meeting I did not satisfy your desire to know about your father's death," the professor began. "I hesitated holding another meeting for this reason. I am willing to answer any question about my involvement."

"What happened?" Erik uttered.

"My investigation of the Deveraux scandal led to the Adirondacks. I was suspicious for good reason that Byson had Ekundayo's amulet. Byson eluded me for six months, so when I heard about a secret auror mission, I dropped everything and went." A loud eruption from the school interrupted his story. "Come on," he called concerned.

Erik followed after his teacher across the grounds and back into the school. They pushed through a thin crowd of older students gathered in a circle. Jack Miller stood in the middle, rooted to that spot with a wand in his hand. Less than six feet in front of him was a piece of unrecognizable destroyed furniture. Professor Carrington suddenly came through the crowd with his nightshirt and a cape hastily placed around his shoulders. "Mr. Miller, explain!" his voice boomed in the entrance hall.

"I was just showing my friends something I just learned," he stammered.

The headmaster flicked his wand and the destroyed furniture returned to its previous form. "GO!" he yelled, and the hall emptied.

Erik stayed only to continue hearing the Professor Dawlings's story. The headmaster did not mention his presence. He warned Professor Dawlings, "I have a lot to worry about without your club members showing off their new spells. I warned you that this club must be a secret. The department of education is itching to make me a figurehead in my own father's school. I do not want to give them an excuse. It's bad enough that your club is exclusive for only pure-bloods. Make sure that this incident doesn't ever happen again or you'll be out of a job!" He turned on his heels and headed back to his private bedroom.

Professor Dawlings only sighed after the threat. "Erik, I must head to bed now. I am sleepy. I will continue my story soon. Please do not judge me until you hear it. I admired your father much. Remember that." With that, the professor climbed the stone stairs off to the left and up to the teacher's dormitories.

Erik headed to his house to gather his belongings for astronomy.

**

Erik sauntered up to the stone stairs into the astronomy tower at the far back of the castle with Harris. They entered the top of the tower, took their seats at the window, and set up their telescopes with the rest of their house and the von Streudsen house. Harris angrily through the rest of his bags on the ground, making a huge thud. Erik watched him as he fumbled with his parchment, then spill his ink. Harris growled, then ran his fingers through his brown matted hair.

Erik began to copy the professor's notes onto his parchment without asking Harris about his temperament. He was concerned for him, but didn't want to invite any backlash. Harris didn't even start taking notes on the assignment before the professor erased the board.

"Dammit," he snarled.

Erik slid his notes to Harris's table. Harris gratefully nodded his head, and began to copy. Erik finished his star chart and handed it within twenty minutes. He helped his friend finish the assignment.

"Make sure that you show the brightness of star," Erik guided. "This star isn't as bright as the other." He pointed with his finger to show the mistake.

"Thanks," he said. "I'm pissed at you."

"Why are you mad?" Erik asked shocked.

"You've been really secretive about your meetings with Professor Dawlings. I thought he was your enemy, but you're buddy buddy with him now. Stephanie is your new best friend. You tell her everything. It's not a big deal. I think it's strange. For a couple of weeks, you've been really quiet. Are you pissed at me?"

"I'm not pissed at you, Harris," Erik replied. "I've really haven't talked to Stephanie about much either."

Harris peered into his telescope.

"Professor Dawlings has a lot of interesting stories," Erik began. "He's been researching the Deveraux scandal for over a decade. He thought that Byson was involved and that's why he was with him."

"He told you that?"

"He hasn't finished the story."

"You believe that?"

Erik cleared his throat. "He's not a death eater."

Harris shrugged, then wrote something on his chart.

The professor clapped his hands to grab the classes' attention. He was a short, olive-skinned man, with a small gut and dark hair streaked with gray. He wore his favorite silk cerulean robe that glittered in the low candlelight of the tower. It smelled faintly of orange tobacco that he smoked occasionally in class from his golden hookah. "I hope that you've been able to finish your star charts for the day. We will not have an end of semester exam."

The class erupted into cheers.

"Thank you, Professor Nasri!" praised David.

"I have a delightful assignment for you instead," Professor Nasri announced. "Find out the origin of your house's constellation and write a full paper on the significance of that constellation to the house's founder. Include a completed star chart."

Groans sounded through the tower.

"Von Streudsens," the professor called, "what is your house's constellation?"

A brown-haired boy raised his hand.

"Constantine?"

Constantine stood and answered, "Ursa Major."

"Excellent! Phoenixes?"

Stephanie's hand shot up.

"Stephanie, please."

She responded, "Cassiopeia."

"Excellent. Now, students, you have a leg up. Good luck with your assignments. By the way, for extra credit, if the stars have more than one name, please note it with the language it's from."

The tower rumbled with movement as students put away their telescopes, parchment, and ink.

"This assignment is going to be complex," Erik said.

"I know," replied Harris. "Let's work on it tomorrow in the library."

Erik nodded and they left the tower.

**

Students gathered around the front wall, pushing and pulling each other away. Erik, Harris, and Stephanie pushed their way into the center of the muttering crowd to find out what the commotion was. A parchment, signed and sealed by a government official, hung on the stone wall. It said:

All students may be questioned without consent from parent or guardian by the department of education or the office of the President of the Congress.

Stephanie's mouth froze and her hands shook. Harris's face turned white. Erik, however, kept his breathing steady, but sweat still beaded at his temples. "They don't know anything," Erik whispered to them.

Harris squeezed Stephanie's hands and she became aware of her surroundings. "They don't know anything," she repeated. "They don't know."

The trio made their way to breakfast, before a long day ahead of them in the library, preparing for exams and writing their astronomy papers. Erik waited until the dining hall filled with enough laughter and chatter before he dared ask the question that was on his mind. "Are you okay with Stephanie now?" he said to Harris.

Stephanie glinted her eyes, but the boys ignored her.

"I'm not saying that I agree with her about the rise of the Dark Lord," Harris replied, "and her support of Harry Potter, but I do agree something fishy is going on. Why is the government suddenly so involved with this school. They've never visited before. Professor Carrington always had control. Are they pushing him out?"

"They can't push him out," Stephanie answered. "Only a descendent of Carrington can run the school. There's some spell that protects his position."

Erik said, "The other night, the headmaster said something about the Congress making him a figurehead. He got angry with Professor Dawlings about his club being exclusive for pure-bloods."

"What!" she responded angrily. "I can't join because I'm not a pure-blood. That's bullshit!"

"Maybe that's why Professor Dawlings's here," Harris fetched.

Erik shook his head in disagreement. "I think Professor Dawling is here to find out more about the Deveraux curse."

"What's that?" Harris asked.

Erik explained everything he knew about from Professor Dawlings.

"The answer might be in this school," Stephanie offered. "Ekundayo left his entire library including all of the books he wrote."

"If he intended to keep his amulet safe, then he wouldn't have written it down somewhere," Harris said dismissively.

"Maybe Professor Whitfield knows about it. She knows a lot of West African magic. She even studied in Timbuktu."

Harris rolled his eyes.

Stephanie huffed. "Do you have any brilliant ideas?"

"You assume that the answer is going to jump out at you," retorted Harris.

Erik cut between them, before the fragile association would fall apart. "Stephanie's idea isn't a bad one. It's a start."

She smiled smugly.

"That'll be your job," he continued. "Find out as much as you can without raising the professor's suspicions. Harris, we'll search the library about the amulet and the history of Ekundayo."

They ate the rest of the breakfast and planned their study schedule.