The old man clasped his hands together. "Very impressive. The brightest witch in our generation can back up the claim it seems," he said as he leaned forward. "Yes, the Knights of Walpurgis would later on become to become a certain Dark Lord's followers."

"That's what I've gathered from what few information we have on them," Hermione said.

"You are unconvinced."

"And are you?"

He shrugged. "There was once a time when I pride myself as a gatherer of facts, a keeper of knowledge. Now? Now I sit in the corner of some tavern telling war stories to a beautiful young woman in the hopes that she might get me some free drinks."

Another change of topic. Fine. It's obvious that the man knew something more about the Knights than he let on, but the haste in which he deflected this particular line of questioning meant she would need another hook for him to answer her questions.

"Very well, then. Let's go back to these other players in this conflict, these students who fought against Voldemort during the first war."

He grinned. "I'm glad you understood."

This is it. The end of the journey. And what a short journey it has been! Daniel blinked once as he felt his life leaving him. It's rather funny; he never thought he'd die in such a… dramatic circumstance. He's never one to put himself in danger, not even for the "greater good," so he had always thought that when it all ends, it's going to be peaceful, mundane. As his short life flew before his mind's eye, he focused on that one event, that one most important thing that happened in his life.

Flash

"Come on, say it,"

"I am a disgrace to the wizarding community and my kind should feel lucky that we are still educated in the ways of magic." There was no emotion, no conviction in the tone of his voice.

Daniel sat against the wall, on his face an expression of pain. On his robe was a blue crest with a silver eagle. Three older students, the crest on their robes marked them as Slytherins, stood menacingly. One of them laughed and pointed his wand at him anyway.

"I… I told you what you wanted to hear," he gasped. "Please leave me alone."

"Doesn't matter, see," one of the boys smiled cruelly. "People like you shouldn't have been allowed to come here."

Ah, so that's how it's going to be. He looked into the faces of his attackers, remembering well their looks. He braced himself for the curse that never came. Instead, a shrill voice called out behind them, "Leave him be, cowards!"

All eyes were suddenly on the small and not physically imposing girl. Her heroic pose seemed odd but fittingly, considering the situation. Her friend was less than thrilled, however. The three upperclassmen seemed taken aback for a moment, perhaps worried that this girl in front of them had backup. When they realized that she had none, they sneered, "Stick your nose elsewhere. We want nothing of your self-righteous chivalry."

"Sorry, but you're about to get more." More had joined into the fray, it seemed. At twelve years of age, Sirius already showed the beginnings of the strutting fine example of manhood he's going to become. Already the charm shone through the messy, longish hair and the mischievous smile.

"Let's see… seven against three. I don't like your chances," his friend James chimed in. The other two of the group that just arrived at the scene stayed silent, but it was obvious that they were prepared for a fight too.

The stalemate lasted for several full seconds before the Slytherins backed off. "Bah, it's not worth it," one of them said as turned away and walked in a satisfyingly hurried pace.

"That was so awesome!" Peter exclaimed, grinning broadly.

"I have to admit, we handled it pretty well," Remus joined in. The others grinned and clapped each other on the back.

While the Marauders (of course, at this time they were not technically known as that yet; the name came later) were busy congratulating themselves, the girl slowly approached the battered boy, who was queasily and discreetly trying to stand up. "Whoa, take it easy, there. Are you alright?"

For a brief moment, at least for Daniel, she seemed to be outright shining. Perhaps for once in his life he felt like somebody cares for the perfect stranger that he was. That perhaps there's yet chance for him to find someone in this school he can talk to.

"Yes. Yes, I think I am," he tried to smile, but it came off more like a grimace. "Thank you. It's… I'm… thank you."

"Let's take you to the nurse," the other one, the one with the darker hair, suggested.

"I'm alright. I'm… used to it."

"But you shouldn't," his rescuer protested. "Get used to it, I mean. I don't like what they're doing to you, to this school."

"Neither do we." That voice again. As she turned, Sirius was giving her one of his patented lop-sided smile (guaranteed to make all girls within a twenty-foot radius swoon. Or take out the pepper spray), "Hey, you stood up against those slimy snakes. I like that in a girl. So… you're Christine, aren't you?"

Blush. "I don't believe we've talked before."

"Well, it's hard to forget the voice who keeps answering all the questions in Transfiguration, isn't it?"

Her face definitely turned a shade of purple now.

"Eh, that means less chance of us being asked to answer them," Sirius shrugged.

Remus was tugging his arm. "Come on, Cassanova. You're just going to upset her further."

James pushed Sirius out of the way. "Forget this fool. See you around, Christine," he said as he shooed his companions away with him.

"So… crush?" Daniel whispered to her friend.

"Oh yeah. Very much so."

Flash

It was two weeks later.

The cold wind grazed Daniel's cheeks like hundreds of tiny blades, yet the young boy tried his best to keep up with the girl in front of him. They were hiking across the grass, away from the castle proper. Dark clouds hovered overhead. Christine seemed impervious to the weather even though Daniel surmised she had about the same amount of clothing covering her small frame as him.

"I didn't know…" pant "…that you are so…" pant pant "…interested in Queeritch."

Christine looked back at her companion impatiently. "Surely you meant 'Quidditch.'"

"My name is not 'Shirley.'"

"Oh, you just butchered the word 'Quidditch' and now you're making fun of my pronunciation?"

Daniel shrugged, letting the matter drop. In the short time that Christine had known the soft-spoken young boy, she noticed that he had the tendency to do that, to start a discussion only to lose interest in it moments later. Daniel quickly grew on her. There's something about how cautious he conducted himself and how distant he kept himself from the crowd that invoked her pity, so soon she found herself including him in her activities. In a sense, Christine was grateful of her newfound friend. It seemed right to her, to help those who are weaker than her, just like her parents have always told her.

In front of them loomed the Quidditch stadium; a throng of students were between them and the entrance. The first game of the season, especially one between Gryffindor and Slytherin, usually attracted a lot of attention, even from student who normally would not care too much about the sport.

Which reminded her, "Hey, thanks for coming with me, by the way. I know you don't enjoy Quidditch that much."

"Eh. I figure the companionship isn't too bad," Daniel answered. "Besides, isn't Gryffindor's new star going to play for the first time today? James Potter, right? The Seeker."

"I don't know where these rumors of James replacing Quentin are coming from. James is playing as a Chaser, not a Seeker." Christine corrected him. A flash of electricty arced across the clouds, causing the girl to frown. "Great. Looks like it's going to be a wet game today."

Daniel followed the lightning as it danced across the sky. He was expecting thunder to follow soon, yet the sound that came to him sounded foreign. It seemed too loud, yet too light at the same time. That's no thunder. It's…

Flash

Despite the sounds of battle all around, Daniel calmly stared at the man in front of him. Then his gaze fell upon what the man was holding. It's the first time he's seen the object up close, yet he knew full well what it's capable of.

This is it. The end of the journey.


Among other things, Albus Dumbledore used to be one of the best Queeritch players of his generation.