"A duel?" Kallen deadpanned. "Are you a fool, Harry? A duel at midnight?"

They had just left the Potion's class and were having a meal in the great hall. It was strange how well their group clicked together. Kallen, being more mature then the rest ended up acting as the voice of reason among them.

"Malfoy was asking for it" Ron grumbled. Harry nodded.

She sighed. "And you fell for his provocation."

Ron had the dignity of looking ashamed.

Beside them were Ophelia and her friend, Hermione, who occasionally joined their group, even though she was supposed to be a Ravenclaw. Apparently, she wasn't fitting very well in Ravenclaw. Strange, considering her love for books.

Ophelia changed recently. During the first days after the ceremony, she was morose and reclusive. For some reason, though, she started to act a lot more like a Gryffindor recently. She was smiling a lot more. Maybe she was always like this? Hermione didn't seem surprised by the change, but rather, pleased.

It was curious how much she resembled Lelouch, even though her personality was a polar opposite.

"Do you even know how to duel. Have you learned the disarming charm yet?" she asked him.

Harry nodded. "I learned it in the charm class last week."

Kallen sighed. They were still kids, they probably wouldn't hurt themselves throwing inoffensive spells and jinxes at one another, but still...

Suddenly, Ron's eyes widened. "By the way, what the hell was that in the flying class?"

Oh, here it comes.

"What?" she turned her head

"What...what?" he stuttered. "Everything! The spell? Where did you learn it? Why the hell did you protect the Black bastard? He's a slime snake!"

She smirked at him. "That is for me to know and for you to guess, Roniekins."

He blushed and sulked "It was the twins right? It had to be."

She chuckled. Suddenly, Ron jumped from his seat and pointed at her. "I know! Teach harry that spell for his duel with Malfoy, so that we can kick his ass."

Kallen rolled her eyes. Protego wasn't a simple spell. The twins taught her some time ago, with the poor wand they brought for her in some forgotten shop at the back alley.

Would it be bad to teach them? Harry was staring at her expectantly. Probably not. It was a spell meant for protection after all. It was actually a good idea to teach them

"Alright," she sighed.

"As for the...Black bastard," she smirked. "I have...plans for him."

...

His interrogation of Sir Cadogan bore more fruits he expected.

Hogwarts had, apparently, five hidden rooms, thirteen secret passages, and multiple assorted secrets. Many of which had been lost to the living but kept by the dead.

One of them was of especial interest to Lelouch.

The Room of Requirement was singular even among the repository of insanity that was this castle. From what Cadogan described, it was a room that would offer anything the person who opened it needed. Anything. How did that even work? Transmutation? It was the only theory he had going, nothing else seemed to make sense.

A room that transmuted itself in anything the person needed. What were the limitations? Could it create books, logs, diaries? Could it recreate a computer? Or maybe a Knightmare?

It had to have limitations. Maybe the knowledge of the person who opened it? Maybe the total collection of objects inside the castle at a point in time? Maybe it, somehow, scanned every object that ever entered the castle and kept it in a magical hard-drive, ready to reproduce? Those were the less absurd possibilities he could come up with.

As he strolled towards the seventh year corridor, Millicent followed just a step behind him, glaring at anyone who passed by them

Lelouch smirked. Millicent had taken up the job of protecting him like a fish in water. No one tried to mess with Lelouch yet, but he had seen their eyes, especially the Gryffindors. It wouldn't be long until someone took the first shot at him. If he let it happen, it would be bad. More and more people would gather the courage and there would be no end to his troubles.

With Millicent next to him though...

The girl was as big as a third-year and with a violent streak the size of Britannia. She kept most of his would-be bullies away just with her glare. Indeed, thugs were an essential part of any organization. In that, Malfoy had the right idea.

"Stop it, Draco!" someone shouted, down the hallway.

Oh, here he was...

Two girls were cornered in a wall, with Malfoy grinning in front of them, while Malfoy's thugs hit a Hufflepuff who had fallen the floor. Lelouch shook his head in disappointment. Did Lelouch really ever considered Malfoy an obstacle for his rise in the Slytherin hierarchy? with this kind of behavior? Lelouch was getting rusty.

"Bullying Hufflepuff's Malfoy? How...infantile." Lelouch said. Malfoy turned his face to look at him. The girls noticed Lelouch and shrunk a little more on their corner.

Malfoy growled. "Black..." he said. "This has nothing to do with you."

Lelouch smirked. "I thought the Rightful Heir," he said, scornfully. "Would have better things to do with his time." he snorted. "I certainly won't waste time with this kind of childishness"

Crabble and Goyle stopped hitting the boy and went to Malfoy's side with malicious scowls on their faces.

Millicent took a step towards them and loomed over. She grunted something Lelouch didn't understand. The boys took a step back and stood down. Malfoy scowled.

"Come, Crabble, Goyle," he said and turned away, flapping his cape in a way not unlike snape.

Lelouch turned to look at the girls. Instead of thankfulness, the distanced themselves from Lelouch even more. One of them was bone white with fear. Lelouch snorted and left, with Millicent in his heels.

In his face, there was a smirk, with just a tinge of sadness.

...

Lelouch stopped in front of the Tapestry of Barbamas, the Balmy and looked it over. Wizards had a very bad taste in decoration. A dozen trolls, dressed as ballerinas, continuously hit the small man in their middle with wooden clubs with unrestrained brutality.

He turned to Millicent and she turned her face just a little towards him.

"What you will see now is a secret," Lelouch said. "I hope I won't have to reinforce how important it is for you to keep it. Tell no one about it. Not even Daphne."

She looked a little hesitant but nodded anyway.

"Don't worry, I will probably show her some time." Maybe he could use this knowledge to negotiate with the Greengrasses from a more powerful position. Such an important secret could be passed down in their family and help them rise in Hogwarts for generations.

He turned back and chanted in his head what he needed

"I need an office, the rulebook, wizard money, forbidden knowledge, training dummies, and a baseball bat."

He did it three times and a door appeared in what was, just recently, a blank wall. Lelouch blinked in surprise as he saw the interior of the room. It seemed the room had some kind of limited access to his own thoughts.

At the very back of the room, two very big medieval banners stood gloriously on the walls. Black as coal, framing the chair on the center, showing the silver symbol of the Black Knights. On the center of the wall, though, stood the crest of Britannia. A snake and a lion, embracing each other on a field of blue. Was the room mocking him? Putting this symbol here? Lelouch scowled.

In front of the banners and the crest, there was a long wooden study. On a corner of the room, next to the door, stood the three dummies. Lelouch smirked. They looked like Charles zi Britannia. Maybe the room liked him? On the left side of the room, there was a long bookcase.

He took the bat and gave it to Millicent. "Go have some fun while I work."

She grinned maliciously.

There seemed to be no money anywhere in the room. It probably was part of its limitations.

Lelouch went to the study and was surprised again with what he found there.

There was a stack of blank papers, a feather pen inside a bottle of dye, a book, and at the center of the table...

At the center of the table stood his Zero Uniform. Carefully folded and cleaned. Above it, his mask stared at him, expectantly, as if waiting for his decision.

Lelouch chuckled melancholically. "No, I won't be needing it anymore, or at least not for now," he said. The uniform disapeared sucked inside the table. It really did seem to be a transfiguration of some kind, or maybe just conjuration.

He sat on the chair and started to read the rulebook of the room while Millicent bashed his father's face next to the door.

So, anything he brought from the room would only exist for seven days outside it. Any money it made for him would immediately be noticed as the result of transfiguration by any wizard with some minimal competence. The room couldn't solve his monetary problems. He had already guessed that, If it could, the wizarding world wouldn't have an economy since everyone would be able to create money at will.

As Lelouch imagined, the room could reproduce the objects existing right now inside the castle, but it could not reproduce their magic. It also could change them a little, based on the user's personality and experience. So, that was the reason for the banners and the uniform.

Lelouch smirked. It was an amazing find. With a room capable of reproducing the books in the library, he cold read anything he wanted and no one would know, including books in the restricted section. Maybe even the books on dumbledore's personal stash.

Not now though. He was late for DADA class, already. He sighed and went over to Millicent. Pieces of Charles were spread over the room

"Good job, Millicent," he said. "Let's go, we are late for the next class."

Millicent grunted and left with him, bringing the baseball bat with her.

...

Kallen had found an empty classroom to teach Harry the Protego. He was still way too green though. She had to manually guide him through most of the movements. It was strange that 'The Harry Potter' had no familiarity with wands.

"Well...I guess this is good enough" She said. Harry smiled.

Ron was out in the corner of the room, trying to create a protego as well. Hermione was on one of the chairs, doing their homework. Go figure.

Ophelia had been the first of them to do it. She seemed to be a very gifted witch. Well, going by who her brother was, and by the fact she was a Black, it shouldn't be a surprise. They finished, gathered their things, and left the room, Gryffindor was going to have herbology with the Ravenclaws now, so Hermione followed after them.

They had just turned a corner when they came face to face with him.

Lelouch stopped suddenly as well when he saw Kallen and his sister. Lelouch twisted his mouth in displeasure. Behind him, an ogre of a girl stood, in Slytherin uniform, with a baseball bat the size of Lelouch on her shoulder. Staring intently at them.

"Black..." Kallen grinned, angrily. "I didn't expect to meet you again like this."

"Weasley." he scowled. "I seem to keep running into you. Are you, by any chance, stalking me?"

She snorted. "Get your mind out of the gutter, Black." She was just making sure he didn't get himself killed, again.

She looked at the girl behind him and grunted. "By the way, who is she? Aren't you going to introduce me to your new friend?"

Lelouch grinned evilly. "Of course, how could I forget. Let me introduce you to Millicent, my new...bodyguard."

Karin seemed shocked. "Your new...bodyguard?" she clenched her hands and frowned.

Lelouch put his hand on his chin and nodded. "Indeed. it is her job to keep angry and violent people away from me..."

Karin bit gritted her teeth, frowned and glared at Millicent. "I don't like her."

Millicent grunted.

Lelouch smiled and nodded. "Then she is doing her job well enough," he said and turned to look at Ophelia.

"Lu...Julius..." she said, glaring at him angrily. "What do you want?"

Lelouch smirked. He really did look genuinely happy. "Ophelia," he said. "It seems you are finally beginning to grow up." He chuckled. "No matter, you are still insignificant in my eyes."

"Shut up, you Black Bastard!" Ron shouted. "You know nothing about her!"

Lelouch smirked. "I know everything about her. She is my sister, after all."

Harry stood beside Ron and the two of them stood in front of Lelouch, glaring angrily at him.

"Black Bastard..." Lelouch tasted the word "I think I like it..." he said "Well then, I believe I am late for my next class." he turned back to Kallen and grinned. "Maybe we can trade barbs some other time, Weasley girl."

He left them there and went his way, with the ogre girl behind him.

"Idiot..." Kallen was grinning.

...

Lelouch frowned.

He was in DADA class. Watching the teacher intently, trying to understand why he was acting like he was.

Quirrel was still looking at everyone in the eyes as he gave his class. His stuttering was still that same bad impersonation. There was a difference though.

He was avoiding Lelouch.

He didn't try to call his attention even once during class. Didn't ask him questions, and the most strange difference: he wasn't looking at Lelouch in the eyes. He was trying to pretend Lelouch didn't exist.

Lelouch tried to feign sleep in class once to see his reaction. He stayed like that for two entire minutes, until Daphne hit him with a stack of papers. Something changed. In the few moments Quirrel glanced at him, it was with a strange mixture of anger, reluctance, and curiosity. As if Lelouch had done something to confront him, to insult him, and he couldn't accept it somehow.

Lelouch's eyes narrowed. Maybe it was time to start being careful around Quirrel.