Chapter 11. Maturity

[1991: 3rd year, Harry's 1st. 14 years old.]

The passing of days felt slow to Alaric as he waited for various letters to arrive. He had begun to realize just how long of a game he was playing. His first year's mentality was one of expediency, always pushing forward and studying the simplest of interactions as some sort of lesson for the future. Really, he learned most from his past time with Cassiopeia and socializing with Roger and Mary.

Alaric was still progressing, but now his focus was grounded. He worked exceptionally hard on his magical growth; this included his niche Plant Magic to the more standardized topics. He was not the top student, but he was close in most subjects. His private study of defence and herbology was where he performed best.

His letters were many, but it was a slow system. He had his legal team, a trusted group of witches and wizards historically used by the Black and Blackthorn families, waiting for the perfect moment to act. They had been preparing for years to move. The goal was to regain as much of what was stolen as possible, discredit those who allowed the Blackthorn fortune to be divvied up and take hold of some political capital. The legal team, and Alaric, waited for the best moment to act so that the Ministry was less equipped to deal with them.

His legal team planned to go after the 'light' families first, Brown, McKinnon and Vance, followed by the 'dark' families. Ideally, those same 'dark' families would aid Alaric when he sued the 'light,' only to set a precedent when he sued them.

Alaric privately thought that if a 'hypothetical' beast was let loose in, hypothetically, the most excellent wizarding school – which happened to be filled with the children of many Ministry employees – and if the Ministry was 'hypothetically' ill-equipped to handle even that than an owlery full of letters might also be poorly handled if they just-so-happened to arrive during that exact moment.

-XxXx-

"Mary!" said Roger with a large smile. "It's almost time for your Christmas, aren't you excited?"

Mary shot Roger a surprised look from her desk, which then morphed into scorn as she felt the librarian's gaze find her and Roger wanting.

"Roger," she whispered harshly. "Sit down; Mrs. Pince will kick us out if you keep shouting."

Roger shuffled into his seat across from Mary with his shoulders held upwards as if he was about to dodge a bludger.

"I was not yelling," he said with his voice low. "Anyway, what about Christmas and your red man with the gifts! Aren't you excited?"

"Why are you so obsessed with Christmas?" Mary asked, not for the first time this month.

"It just sounds so fun," Roger said with a little more enthusiasm in his voice, which then was noticeably reduced after a stern look from Mary. "The Davies family is just going to some ball before a small solstice ceremony; it's all so boring."

"Oh, poor ol' Roger has to get dressed up to go to a dance," Mary said with a faked sympathy.

"They are awful," Roger said unconvincingly. "Anyway, why are you in here looking all upset? I'd be going mad with excitement if I were you."

"You are going mad," Mary said.

"Mary," Roger groaned.

"Fine," she said. "I'm worried about Alaric."

"Alaric?" asked Roger. "Why"

"Why?" she said in disbelief. "Every year around Christmas he starts acting like some silly-robed old man!"

A loud shush was heard as Mrs. Pince's annoyance was felt by all the library students.

Roger looked at Mary, who was now sunken into her chair in embarrassment and smiled.

"Wow, Mary," he whispered. "Way to almost get us kicked out."

She shot him a cold glare that he had only seen on the faces of a few women in his life, all of whom he feared.

"Sorry…" he said. "But he hasn't been bullied that much lately."

"He's been being rude to professor's again and talking like some bigshot pureblood," she said.

"Oh…" Roger said. "Yeah…"

"Oh yeah, is right," said Mary.

"Well, what do we do?" asked Roger.

"I don't know," Mary roared again. "That's why I'm hiding in the library!"

"Well," said the stiff voice of Mrs. Pince from over Mary's shoulder. Roger had already turned pale and shrunk into himself. "Then you'll be happy to find yourselves new hiding spots. When I see you after the break, you better be well behaved."

"Yes, Mrs. Pince," Roger and Mary said as Mary quickly packed her things and Roger began to walk towards the door. Mary was quick to follow.

Roger opened the door and almost began to sprint before he found himself hitting another person, both falling to the floor.

When Mary near-ran out of the library, she was greeted with the sight of Roger and Alaric spooning on the hall's floor. Alaric had one arm trapped under Roger while Roger had one leg tied between Alaric's two.

"Not in public," said Mary with a smile. She felt proud that she was able to get the joke out so quickly after being kicked out of the library and filled with irrational fear.

"Get off!" said Alaric as he punched Roger's upper arm in annoyance.

"Ouch!" said Roger dramatically as the pair pushed each other away and stood up. Both had a fair share of Hogwarts' dust lined against their robes, and Alaric found his satchel of books at his feet.

"Why were you running in these halls?" Alaric asked.

Roger sighed with dramatic flair before saying, "mate, stop talking like that?"

"What do you mean?" Alaric asked. "I suppose not that my speech is any different than ever before."

"Suppose not?" said Mary as if such a phrase was inconceivable.

"No, I do not," said Alaric.

"Mary," said Roger as he pulled her into an excessive hug. "We're losing our boy!"

"Roger!" she said before stomping on his foot, an effective tactic that had him find a new resting place on the floor. "You're both mad."

"What is going on?" asked Alaric.

"You are speaking like some pompous pureblood giving a Wizengamot speech, and Roger is… well, Roger," Mary said before she walked away.

"Crazy that one," said Roger as he stood up and brushed the dust off his robe. "But you are acting like an ass."

With that, Roger left to find Mary while Alaric looked at him leave dumbly.

"An ass?" Alaric asked to no one.

"Blackthorn!" suddenly said the voice of the dreaded Mrs. Pince. "10 points from Ravenclaw and no more library for you until after the solstice."

"Yes, Mrs. Pince," he said simply. Though, he did want to call into question the horrible standards of banning students from learning and call attention to his location, which was outside of the library and thus, losing access to the said library was unreasonable.

"I am an ass…" he mumbled.

"Blackthorn!" Mrs. Pince yelled, scandalized. "Another 10 points and a week with caretaker Flich. These halls have been quite dusty lately."

"Yes, Mrs. Pince," Alaric said before hurrying away before he received more punishment.

Later, in his room, Alaric sat on his bed and wondered why he was acting this way again. After last year, when he said some unkind things to Professor Sprout and framed a student for stealing, and the year before when he set a few things on fire and was a touch rude to Professors Flitwick, McGonagall and Dumbledore, he had realized that acting those ways was self-destructive.

'Why am I acting like an ass again?' Alaric thought to himself before meditating. He sat for over an hour on his bed with his eyes closed before tears leaked from his eyes.

Aunt Cassiopeia. The simple answer was that he missed the little political games they played when she was teaching him about the… oddness of the magical world. The more difficult answer was one of unexpressed grief that he held behind a soft wall in his mind. When the days grew cold, and the solstice approached, he was faced with the sad truth of what he had lost, so he acted out.

'I'm like a child,' Alaric thought to himself as he began to feel shame mix with grief. He would have to shelve his plan of tricking the house-elves into pranking the Gryffindors so that the Gryffindors would then prank the Slytherins. The end goal was to give him cover to slip a potion in Lavender Brown's and Adrian Pucey's drinks without getting caught.

Alaric sighed to himself before he went to find Roger and Mary to apologize. He had no idea that his grief for Cassiopeia was rooted so deeply in his mind.

Walking into the Ravenclaw common room, Alaric spotted his friends and made his way over with a sly smile.

"Perchance, is this seat taken?" Alaric asked as he sat down anyway.

Roger groaned and continued to read his book. The dedication to study was one of his strong suits, much like his dedication to ignoring Alaric when he acted like this.

"Alaric," pleaded Mary. "You can talk to us if you're having problems, or even with Professor Flitwick."

"Nay," said Alaric. "I dare say, speaking like a ponce suits me better."

Roger could not help himself, and he started to laugh hysterically.

"Dare I ask?" said Alaric to Mary.

"Ponce means someone who manages… ladies of the evening," said Mary with an embarrassed smile.

"What?" said Roger. "I thought it meant… you know… a bloke who likes blokes?"

Alaric started to laugh, effectively breaking his act.

"Hey!" said Roger. "Our boy is back!"

"Yeah, yeah," said Alaric. "I was an ass."

"Not a ponce?" asked Mary dryly.

Roger started to laugh again as Alaric's face went a little red.

"I thought a ponce was just someone who liked themselves a lot," defended Alaric.

"So, you are a ponce," said Roger quickly.

"Roger!" said Mary with pretend outrage. "He's an ass, not a ponce."

"Anyway," said Alaric. "I'm sorry I was acting like an ass."

"It's okay, Alaric," said Mary while reaching over the table to hold one of his hands. "But you can talk to us if you're having problems."

"Thanks," said Alaric with a smile.

"Anyway," said Roger feeling awkward. "What are your plans for the Solstice?"

"I was going to stay here," said Alaric. "But I got a letter from Tonks that explained to me that I had to return or my Aunt would come to get me."

"Aww," said Mary. "That's so sweet."

"You should visit Mary with me and capture Santa!" said Roger.

"What!" yelled Mary to Roger. "That's why you wanted to visit me?"

"No," said Roger dryly before he started to pack up his books. "It's a bit loud here, though, so I'll go read in our room Alaric."

"Good luck with that," laughed Alaric as he watched Mary draw her wand. The Beechwood wand was long and seemed to spiral around the Unicorn Tail Hair core, a great wand to accompany Mary as she artfully flicked and swished Roger's straight hair into a curly perm. His hair no longer fit his face, which seemed to be growing wrinkles at an alarming pace.

Roger was, eventually, successful in fleeing the common room as students laughed at his new style. Luckily for him, the spells would fade over the next hour, and he would have his hair straight and his skin smooth by dinner.

The days passed as Alaric considered studying a cure for Carpal Tunnel. His hand ached from the constant use of quills to pen letters. Most of his replies were the standard sort, 'I received your letter, keep it up' in summation.

Walking out from the owlery, he faced an odd sight; it was the yellow hue of an unknown spell in his peripheral. Alaric's body twisted sideways as tears leaked from his eyes.

"Look at the little dark wizard," said a boy who Alaric did not recognize. "Crying to his mommy?"

Alaric tried to stand, but his balance was lost. His arms tried to push him upwards, but he went sideways instead. Nausea struck hard as the world spun around him. Soon he was covered in tears and the stains of vomit.

"Mommy?" said the cheery voice of Angelina Johnson, the Gryffindor Chaser. "Didn't she die trying to raid Diagon Alley?"

"Too bad they missed this one," said the boy.

"Let's go, Towler," said Angelina as the two Gryffindors left Alaric to sputter on the hall floor.

Alaric pulled his satchel close and fumbled around inside until he found a small vial and poured it into his mouth. The dizziness faded fast as Alaric breathed deeply while sitting against the wall. He, eventually, stood and cleaned himself with a few chore spells. He recognized Angelina, the Chaser was popular among the Gryffindors and had given him trouble in the past, but he did not know 'Towler.'

"Hogwarts elf," called Alaric after he checked to see if anyone was nearby.

An almost silent 'pop' was heard, and a House-Elf appeared wearing a Hogwarts tea towel.

"Mister Blackthorn calls me?" asked the elf.

"Yes," said Alaric. "There's a bit of a mess. Could you help me out?"

"Yes, Mister Blackthorn," said the House-Elf as he snapped his fingers, and the vomit vanished.

"My friend got carried away," explained Alaric. "Please keep this between us."

"Students shouldn't be messing with spells in'd halls," said the House-Elf with a wag of his finger.

"I know," said Alaric with his hands raised in surrender. "It's just, this guy wanted to impress my friend, and he was a little odd. No harm was done, though. Do you know a Towler from Gryffindor? He seems like a good guy, but it was the first time I met him."

"Yes, I's know Mister Towler," said the House-Elf happily. "He's a friend of those Weasleys, the practice jokes with him sometimes."

"Oh?" asked Alaric. "That's great! I have a good joke to test, but I was afraid I'd accidentally use it on someone who didn't like jokes."

The House-Elf started to look happier as Alaric spoke, eventually hopping around in excitement.

"Could you help me?" asked Alaric. "It would be great fun!"

"I's can help Mister Blackthorn?" asked the House-Elf hopefully. Alaric had a great reputation with most of the House-Elves.

"Yeah!" said Alaric with exuberance as he took a small vial out of his bag. "Drop this in his drink at dinner, and it will be a great joke."

The House-Elf took the vial with a smile and promised to not let the boy notice. It would be great fun!

Alaric then returned to his room and started to pen a few letters. He wouldn't want his business associates to hire someone like Angelina Johnson or Kenneth Towler, plus he should know if Towler had and magical relatives. He already knew Johnson was a muggle-born, so he could do nothing at that end.

Alaric was a bit petty.

That evening Kenneth didn't grow boils or lose his hair; nothing dramatic happened to the boy. The helpful House-Elf was disappointed that the joke didn't work. It wouldn't be until after the winter break that the boy had the courage to see Madame Pomfrey about the burning feeling he had whenever he peed. The muggle doctors couldn't find anything wrong, even after a couple different tests.

-XxXxX-

Alaric walked through the cold air towards his hidden hold in the Forbidden Forest. He was aiming for the next step in Plant Magic, as told by the leather journal that connected him to his family's grimoire. He would try something different today though, he would augment the spell his journal revealed with another magic he found in the Room of Requirements. He still felt an odd chill some days while leaving the seventh floor, but he decided to no fall into paranoia.

As he reached the edge of the forest, Alaric took up his wand and cast a human-presence detection spell - Homenum Revelio. No other presence was felt in the surroundings, so Alaric soldiered on.

The dark and deadly forest turned into a trail for Alaric as plants – magical and mundane – deferred to his magic and retreated from his path. Alaric soon came to the core of his little territory. Cobra Lilies were preening at his arrival and branches seemed to sway in greeting.

"Floris Industria Accumula!" said Alaric as he pulled his wand upwards and then pointed inward. Magical energy, vitality and nutrients climbed into his body from his feet as Alaric felt his own magic rush from his body to return to the earth. The spell, Flora energy accumulate, was a necessary step for most of the advanced Plant Magic. The pure magic of wizards and witches seemed to fall short when injected into the earthy and somewhat wild natural energy that sustained magical plants.

Alaric stepped forward after the connection between him and the earth faded. His mind was focused on holding the wild magic of the earth as his wand danced to the familiar rhythm of his next spell. A spell he never had quite succeeded in casting without this wild energy.

"Kelahiran semula yang ajaib," chanted Alaric.

The wild magic pulled begrudgingly up his arm and the familiar yew wand's leaf-like runic pattern seemed to glow a messy brown before a blast of dirt-like magic catapulted from the tip and into a mundane tree.

Alaric fell to his knees and his body ached as his once bloated body felt empty.

Breathing deeply, Alaric looked up at the tree to see its deep brown bark crack as orange, green and pink flora rapidly grew. Flowers budded and bloomed as a magical mist began to surround the tree in a golden haze.

Alaric stood back quickly and watched as the flora bloomed and then faded, only to bloom once more. The cycle repeated as Alaric felt the wild magic fade with each cycle until it was no more. The flora was rabid in each growth and fall. Once the wild magic was consumed, the tree's nutrients seemed to be next as pieces of bark and brown leaves fell to the ground.

Alaric backed further as a loud crack boomed sharply from the tree.

Minutes passed as the ravenous flora consumed the mundane tree like it was a gift. Alaric simply watched from a distance before the flora finally died one last time. The golden haze faded into nothing, and the bark-less showed to be standing dead.

Alaric sighed at his failure and decided to take a necessary precaution. First, he used the water-making spell Aguamenti to drench the surrounding trees and plants before he lit the dead tree with Incendio, the fire-making spell. Carefully he watched the tree burn as he stopped the fire from spreading. The tree was nothing more than a husk of its former self, so it burned quickly as if it was kindling.

For the next test, Alaric would use a small tree in a flowerpot.