Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I do not own Harry Potter. Therefore, all of this incredible universe where this fanfiction will take place belongs to J. K. Rowling. No profit, except my entertainment, is being made.

The next chapter will be posted either Saturday or Sunday. I hope you enjoy the chapter.

The Downfall

As they entered November, the weather turned cold, the mountains around the school became icy grey and the lake like chilled steel. Every morning the ground was covered in frost and most would prefer staying in the warmth of the castle. Still, Hardin Sayre was outside the castle, reading the Tales of Beedle the Bard, under a tree, with a jar containing a bright blue fire by his side - in an attempt to minimise the low temperature.

None of his friends understood why he would wake up so early and chose the freezing outside instead of the castle, but it was something he couldn't explain to them. Ever since he had joined Hogwarts, Hardin had been trying to compensate for his lack of knowledge of the Wizarding World, but it became harder for him to get some alone time as the weeks passed by. Therefore, he had started to use cold weather in his favour.

For Hardin, it was odd to think that a few months ago, he would do anything to have some company and, now, he had to find ways to be alone for a couple of hours.

For the past week, he had been reading the Tales of Beedle the Bard, which was said to be the most traditional wizarding book for children. Why was he reading it? Because he needed to make his wizarding background believable and, how could he do that if he didn't know a thing about what was typical for magical kids? A few days ago, he discussed, with Ren and Alyssa, about their favourite childhood tales. Hardin had been lucky that neither of them questioned when he sided with Ren's opinion that Babbitty Rabbitty was the best, while Alyssa defended the Fountain of Fair Fortune. However, now that he had finished the book, he would say that his favourite was either the Warlock's Hairy Heart or Three Brothers' tale.

Hardin extinguished the flames inside the jar with the counterspell, placed it back in his bag, and headed towards the owlery.

Every week, at least once, he would go to the owlery early in the morning to send himself letters and keep people away from questioning why he didn't receive letters or if he had family problems. He had no idea how the owls could understand what he was saying, but they did. As a matter of fact, he didn't understand half the things that happened in the Wizarding World. All he knew was that they had one single explanation that could solve any problem: magic.

Once inside the owlery, he met none other than Edwin Selwyn, giving his eagle owl a letter. Hardin thought he was enough of a nice bloke, and, in a way, he was what Hardin aspired to become. There wasn't a single rotten part of him: he had the looks, was rich, a good student, and was the most charismatic person Hardin had ever met. Everyone liked him.

"Hardin," He said happily, with his perfect smile, "How are you, mate?"

"I'm great," Hardin replied, going towards the school owls. "You?"

"I've never been better," Edwin replied, optimistically as always. "Are you excited about the first quidditch match on Saturday? I haven't been in a game since August, and it feels like it's been years."

"Of course, I can't wait to see Slytherin crushing Ravenclaw."

"I don't reckon you've told me this before, but what team do you support?"

"Falmouth Falcons,"

"So, you like a rougher game." He said, "Terrence Higgs has told me that every game of Gryffindor against Slytherin ends with a player in the Hospital Wing. Sounds like something interesting to see, don't you think?"

"Definitely."

On a normal day, Hardin wouldn't be so empty regarding his answers, but he needed Edwin to get out of the owlery so that he could give the owl the instructions. However, as he saw the heading of the Daily Prophet that Edwin was holding, he asked, "You were invited to the Downfall event yesterday, weren't you? How was it?"

The Downfall's event was an annual celebration the Ministry held to honour the memory of those who had lost their lives fighting against You-Know-Who, remind the population about the terrors of war, and, obviously, thank Edward Potter for his services. Receiving an invitation to it was a rather hard thing to get, as you either had to be an important employee from the Ministry of Magic or directly involved with the war. In Edwin's case, he had been invited because of his mother, a member of Wizengamont.

"Oh, yes, I was there." Edwin said, "It's always an interesting event to take part in, you know. The Downfall is a very memorable moment of our society's history that should never be forgotten because of what it symbolises to our nation." Hardin wasn't sure if Edwin knew he wasn't talking with an interviewer. "However, it's quite painful to see how much pain this day has caused for our heroes."

Coming to think about it, perhaps Edwin's only defect was talking too much.

Hardin frowned, "What do you mean? Edward likely doesn't remember a thing."

"Well, he's hardly the only hero there, isn't he? His parents are also war heroes, and Mr Potter has lost his parents on this same day. It must be a horrible feeling to know you could have lost your firstborn for the same reason you lost your parents." He made a pause. "Mrs Potter seemed particularly shaken yesterday. I saw her crying at least twice by the end of the party."

"Oh, really?"

"It must be a lot of emotions to take on a single day," Edwin said and then gave Hardin the newspaper. "You can keep this one. There's an interview of my family and me on page seven if you want to check."

"Thanks."

"Don't mention it," Edwin said with another perfect smile. "I'll see you later, Hardin. Save me a seat during lunch."

"I will. Bye."

Hardin watched him leaving and waited until he thought it was safe enough to give his letter and the instructions to the owl. He placed the Daily Prophet in his bag and headed back to Hogwarts.

At the end of the Slytherin table, Hardin sat with his friends, eating while they updated him about Hogwarts' everyday gossip. They weren't sure how it had started, but, now, their morning was not completed without their daily shot of gossiping. It was utterly useless but a nice way to waste time.

"Have you heard that Gwen caught Lucian with another girl today? I heard he was taken to the Hospital Wing." Katherine Gamp, the best gossip source of their year, said to the group. She wasn't one of Hardin's best friends, but she was an interesting person to have around as she would never run out of topics to speak about.

"Oh, that's a shame. They were such a cute couple." Alyssa Rosier commented disappointedly. She was the most romantic of his friends, always having a novel by her side. For Hardin, at first, it had been odd to see this side of her. Even though she had the strongest personality, her heart would melt to the slightest romantic actions. For instance, every time Edwin Selwyn held a door open for her to pass, the blush would never leave her face.

"What has she used against him?"

"Some hex that made his head grow and the Glowing Jinx." She laughed, "According to her, it was to represent his idiot narcissistic, arrogant and egocentric head."

"Such waste of potential," Ren fakely complained. "She's quite famous for Transfiguration. If I were her, I'd have turned him into a fish and thrown him into Great Lake. Nobody would know."

The group laughed.

"Was she punished?" Hardin asked.

"Professor Snape was the one who caught them, so we know no points will be deducted," Katherine replied. It was common knowledge that Snape would never take points from Slytherin unless it were extremely necessary. "I reckon they will be serving detention for a month."

"Are you up for a bet, Gamp?" Ren asked, challengingly, knowing all too well that Katherine would accept it, "I say it's going to be two months of detention, and he will lose his room privilege."

"A galleon?" She asked, offering his hand to him.

Ren shook her hand, "A galleon."

Hardin snorted, earning a wink from Ren. Katherine knew Ren for so long and still was fooled by the same trick. Ren would never bet with anyone unless he were sure of the result. This was why Hardin concluded Ren already knew about the punishment and had just played along so he could use the opportunity to make some money.

"Hardin, can we revise the Levitating Charm later?" Katherine asked, "My charm never lasts for long. The objects keep falling."

For Hardin, there was no doubt that Katherine had only started to talk with him for pure convenience. At first, it had been because Ren had befriended him, but as Alyssa and he got closer and showed himself to be good in her weakest subject - Charms - she saw that their communication was inevitable. However, it could be advantageous. Hardin honestly didn't mind it - after all, knowing all of Hogwarts gossip was also nice.

The boy nodded, "Sure. But can we do it an hour before dinner? I'll be busy after lunch."

"Alright."

Soon, the owls came inside the Great Hall, bringing the mail. The screech owl he had given the letter a few minutes ago stopped by his side, and, as he gave it a piece of bacon, she allowed him to catch his fake letter.

'Even with animals, the relationship is interest-based.' Hardin thought as he observed the owl enjoying the bacon.

As always, he opened the letter he had written to himself, pretended to read it, and, then, placed it back in his bag.

"Have they replied to you why your grandfather got the medal, Hardin?" Ren asked while reading his own letter.

In some circumstances, finding information about another Sayre would have thrilled Hardin, but Ren finding a medal of another Hardin Sayre from 1939, inside the Trophy Room during detention, had certainly given him more of a headache rather than happiness. After all, he had to spend days inside the Library and send multiple letters to some magical organisations to find out why Hardin Sayre I - probably his grandfather - had been rewarded with a Medal of Magical Merit. It had been hard work, but now it was nice to finally know something about another Sayre.

"Yes," He said, "My grandfather broke his decade's record of grades. Got maximum in all of his OWLs, NEWTs and got two of his papers published in Challenges in Charming."

Alyssa whistled, "No wonder he got the medal for Magical Merit."

"No wonder our Hardin here is such an ickle swot." Ren joked, ruffling Hardin's hair.

Hardin smiled in response and slapped Ren's hand out of his hair. "They sent a copy of his paper if you want to take a look at it."

"What's the topic?"

"The importance of mentality for the proper performance of a spell," Hardin replied. He had read the paper at least a dozen times and, although he didn't understand most of what was written, Hardin had understood that some branches of magic required more than just the correct movement and the right words to work out. His grandfather's research mainly focused on the Patronus Charm, which required the charging of a pure joy feeling - most commonly using the power of a happy memory.

"Would you be too offended if I don't read it?" Ren asked. "I probably won't understand a thing he wrote about."

"Don't worry."

"Hardin," Katherine called, "I've just received the confirmation of the order of your hair dye. It must get here in two days."

Alyssa added, "So, by the end of the weekend, you'll be a blondie."

"I still can't believe you are allowing them to dye your hair," Ren said, looking at him as if he was mad.

Hardin shrugged, "They are paying me three galleons for it."

"And three galleons are worth this much?"

"Yeah." Hardin said, "Besides, it only lasts for a few months. In the worst scenario, I'll shave my head."

Until it was time for History class to start, Ren tried to convince him to drop the deal, but Hardin hadn't given up. For him, there were two beneficial aspects of this deal: first, he would get three galleons and, second, he would finally stop looking like a Potter. He still hadn't figured out if he was related to them or not, but the constant mention that he looked like a Potter annoyed him. Once summer break arrived, his next action was to save enough money to buy new lenses and finally get rid of his round ones, which was why the galleons were so important.

As always, History class was incredibly boring. He sat with Alyssa - since Ren went to sit with a Ravenclaw friend of his - and he quickly remembered why he wanted to find a spell for muting his hearing: Professor Binns' class was just unbearable.

"Can you believe his class is obligatory for five years?" He whispered to Alyssa.

"Maybe we can murder him." Alyssa replied, "We might even receive a Hogwarts Award for Services for it."

"But isn't he already dead? I mean, he's a ghost."

She shrugged, "I know, but there has to be a spell to kill - get rid of - a ghost."

"I've heard of one that cleans a ghost's ectoplasm. Maybe there's one that cleans a ghost's presence."

Alyssa smiled, "We should look for it."

Alyssa, then, discreetly pointed towards the table where Bedivere was sitting, or better, was sleeping. She had a look in her eyes that made Hardin know that she wanted to cause a problem. She might love romances, but there was nothing sweet and gentle about her - which was why he liked her.

"Look at Bedivere," She whispered, "So carelessly sleeping, it would be a shame if that inkwell of his turned on him, wouldn't it?"

"You are the devil."

She smiled wickedly, "I know, but you are just as bad as I am. Or do you think I've forgotten about what you did to him last week?"

Well, that had actually been his good action of the year - though Alyssa didn't see it this way.

Sometimes Bedivere was simply unbearable to listen to, especially when he was talking to Greengrass and Wright. Honestly, that boy needed to move on. His obsession with calling Wright a mudblood and offending her family started to get on Hardin's nerves. Obviously, he couldn't do much about it publicly, as this would put him in trouble, but he had his way. Which was why, last week, when Bedivere was annoying to them - to the point Wright was almost crying in front of the entire Slytherin common room - Hardin had used his wandless magic to turn the bottom of his pants into beatles, causing his trousers to fall. Instantly, Wright's crying became a laugh, which was followed by the rest of the room. Bedivere had gone mute due to the embarrassment for the rest of the day.

Hardin was sure no one had seen anything until Alyssa came asking for how long he knew how to perform wandless magic and if he could teach her. He told her he had always been able to do it, though since he joined Hogwarts, it had become easier for him to perform, and she was very impressed with it. Apparently, wandless magic wasn't very common.

Now, he had to endure her asking him to make magic wandlessly.

"Fine."

She silently celebrated. Hardin knew that she wanted to prank him because he had talked ill of her father a few days ago. If there was something he had learned about Alyssa was that she is very vindictive.

Hardin attentively looked at the inkwell on the table. It wouldn't even take much of an effort, as it was only a couple of inches away from the boy. With a simple movement of his hand, the inkwell turned, spilling ink all over the table, which caused Bedivere to wake up with his face covered in ink.

"Shite!" Bedivere exclaimed, gathering all of the class attention, which later laughed at him.

Hardin felt pleased to see that Wright had enjoyed it. Honestly, the girl needed some moments of happiness in her life, considering how much she had to endure daily. He felt a bit of sympathy for her because he was aware that if it weren't for his friendship with Ren and Alyssa, he'd be the one being mocked.

Alyssa, along with some other students, were laughing. However, what impressed Hardin was to see that not even for a minute, Professor Binns had stopped his class. Hadn't he noticed all of this confusion?

Once Alyssa had calmed down, he asked, "Do you think he notices if we are present or not?"

"No, definitely not. He probably doesn't even know he's dead. All he cares about are these goblins revolutions."

"We could skip his class then."

Alyssa frowned, placed her hand on his forehead as if she was checking his temperature, and said, "You are not sick. Then, who are you, and what have you done with my studious Hardin Sayre?"

"Seriously?" He asked, annoyed, "I've just got Bedivere covered in ink, and you don't think I can skip a class?"

"Alright, Mr Troublemaker, what's your plan?"

Hardin rolled his eyes, "There is an empty classroom, two doors away from here. We could use it to train spells."

"Spells like in Charms' spells?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I know you'll only agree if I allow you to try DADA's spells on me." He said, and she smiled innocently, "What do you say about duelling? We are the best of our year."

"You have to agree with something, though."

"What?"

"You won't cry when I kick your arse."

Hardin snorted, "In your dreams, Rosier."

"Wait for it, Sayre."

Until the class was over, they spent it exchanging empty threats to each other. Once it ended, though, Katherine appeared with a group of Ravenclaw girls and took Alyssa away from him. At least he had gotten Ren's company back.

"You've missed the confusion, Ren," Hardin said casually, "Bedivere's inkwell turned on him, during the class."

"Why do I always miss the good parts?" He complained loudly. "First, I miss last week's accident, now I miss this one."

"Probably because you sleep too much."

"Well, fuck it. That's it. I won't sleep anymore." Ren said, "Either way, I have a crucial question to ask you, Hardin."

Hardin raised an eyebrow, "You haven't finished your Herbology homework, have you?"

"Not yet." Ren said, placing his arm around Hardin's shoulder, "But, thankfully, I have this incredible friend called Hardin Sayre, who's a little genius, and will help me out with it."

"And by help, I hope you don't mean giving you my work so you can copy, am I correct?"

"Copy? How dare you? I would never do such a thing!" He exclaimed, pretending to be outraged. "But I suppose I can always paraphrase your work, invert some paragraphs, change some words..."

"I'm sure you wouldn't,"

As they reached the greenhouses, Ren quickly started to write on his parchment, increasing the spacing in the words so he could reach the required two-foot length before Professor Sprout arrived.

"What's your problem with Potions and Herbology?" Hardin asked.

"What do you mean?"

"They are the only classes you are so reckless about. You don't even try learning them."

"Well, they are hardly magic classes, aren't they?" Ren said, "I mean, I'm here to learn magic, not to learn the difference between aconite and wolfsbane. We don't even use our wands here."

"There's no difference between aconite and wolfsbane. They are the same plant."

"What are you now? A herbologist?"

"No," Hardin said, "This was the topic of our last week's homework."

"Oh, that explains a lot." He replied playfully. "How could I know about something that I haven't done?"

Hardin chuckled, "Who's the poor person that's going to be your pair for this month?"

Ren's expression darkened, "Bloody Bedivere Avery. Damn Professor Sprout and her need for us to socialise."

Professor Sprout was Hufflepuff's Head of House, and, embodying her house's traits, she tried to create a friendly environment in her classes. Therefore, after two months of lessons and seeing that everyone always worked with the same pairs, she decided to pick new duos, so they could get to know different people. It was a good intended but not likeable decision, in Hardin's opinion.

Hardin still didn't know exactly what was the cause of the animosity between the two boys, but he had learned it had something to do with their parents. And, whatever had happened, Hardin had the impression Ren took it way more personally than Bedivere did.

"Good luck to you then." Hardin said, "I'll work with Daphne."

"Your lucky bastard." Ren softly punched him in the arm, "You won't even have to do a thing. She's the best with Herbology."

"I won't let her do everything on her own,"

"Oh yes, you are too noble to let someone do your work for you,"

"Go finish your copying, Reynard."

"It's not copying."

Until Professor Sprout and the rest of the students arrived, Hardin enjoyed his friend's company and, later, joined Daphne at a faraway table. He had always thought it was weird how Daphne would always take the furthest table of the room during Herbology, although it was her best subject. After all, in Charms and Transfiguration's classes, which were also his favourites, Hardin always tried to get the front desk so he could pay more attention. Perhaps she was simply good at it but didn't actually enjoy the subject.

"We'll be repotting Devil's Snare today. Now, who can tell me a bit about it?" Professor Sprout asked, looking at them expectantly.

A few students raised their hands in the air.

"Mr Shafiq." She said, giving the space for the Ravenclaw to speak.

"Devil's Snare is from the same family as Fitterblooms. What makes them two different species is that Devil's Snare is highly lethal."

"Excellent. Take a point for Ravenclaw, Mr Shafiq." Professor Sprout said, "Who can tell me why it's considered so dangerous?" She looked around the room, "Ms Gamp."

"Their tentacles strangle anything within their reach."

"That's correct. A point for Slytherin." She said happily, "Anyone can explain to the class why I still haven't placed the plant inside the class?"

This time there were no hands up in the air. Glancing at Daphne, he saw that she looked annoyed. She knew what was going to happen - everybody knew. Whenever someone in the class couldn't give Professor Sprout the correct answer, she would turn to the only student that always knew them but never spoke if she had the chance not to: Daphne Greengrass.

"Ms Greengrass, would you mind explaining to the class?"

"Devil's Snare cannot stand light. Therefore, if you had already placed them here, where there is sunlight, you would have lost all of your young examples of Devil's Snare."

Professor Sprout smiled, "And why, Ms Greengrass, do you assume I have young examples of Devil's Snare?"

"If we tried to repot adult's version of it, there would be too much of high risk - it could easily kill us. Young Devil's Snare tentacles, on the other hand, are too short and weak to cause any potential damage."

"Precisely, Ms Greengrass. Two points for Slytherin, for two correct answers."

Professor Sprout later mentioned the plant's benefits and properties and potion-making usage but said their major job was as a guard. As she finished her explanation and gave them the instructions, the windows were closed with a flick of her wand, causing the illumination to decrease significantly and bringing the plants inside the greenhouse.

Hardin attempted to take the plant out of the pot, but as the tentacles wrapped themselves around his arm and started to struggle, he let it drop.

"You can't do that. You'll hurt it." Daphne said, "I'll show you how to do it. Just be ready to cast the Wand-Lighting Charm when I tell you to. Alright?"

"Won't the light kill her?"

"No. It'll only die if we let it stay in contact with light for too long."

He had no idea if what she was saying was correct or not but nodded either way.

When Daphne placed her hand in the pot, the plant's tentacles got hold of her arm, but she didn't let it drop as he had done. Instead, she slowly moved her arm until it was inside the other pot and then made a sign for him to cast the spell. Once the light came out of the wand, slowly, the tentacles freed her arm and shrunk into the new pot.

As they worked, mostly in silence, Hardin noticed that something had changed about the girl. She wasn't as cheerful as she used to be. At first, whenever she tried to talk to him, he was the one to avoid conversations and say empty words, as he was still uncomfortable for her seeing him in a humiliating situation - in his opinion. Besides, talking with Greengrass and Wright was the easiest way to get segregated in Slytherin, which is why Hardin avoided them as much as possible. Now, seeing her presenting a rather sad exterior, he couldn't help but wonder if he had something to do with it.

They repeated the same process multiple times and were the first to finish, receiving another point for their work. Once the class was freed, Hardin joined Ren and Alyssa, aiming for the common room.

"Did you enjoy the class, Reynard?"

"Don't start, Alyssa." Ren said shortly, "What about you? Have you enjoyed working with Edwin? Have you already begged him to marry you?"

Hardin laughed as Alyssa pushed Ren, who slipped on the frost, almost falling into the ground. It was always amusing to have them around.

She then turned towards him, acting as if nothing had happened, "How was your class, Hardin?"

"It was alright." He shrugged, "Daphne did most of the job."

"Of course she did. She wouldn't let you ruin her grade." Ren said, "I just don't know how someone can like and be good in Herbology."

"She's the daughter of Demetrius Greengrass, after all. If she wasn't good with Herbology, I don't know who would be." Alyssa commented.

Hardin asked, "Who's him?"

"You don't know?"

"Not everyone has a mother who owns apothecaries, Alyssa," Ren said, "I didn't know him either until you mentioned him either. He's not much of a public figure."

She shrugged, "Well, he's a supplier of plant-based potion ingredients, Hardin. My mother buys most things from him. He also wrote a book about Herbology a few years ago."

"That explains while she's always miles ahead in Herbology," Hardin murmured, more to himself than to his friends. Herbology and Potions were the few subjects he wasn't the best. "You knew her before Hogwarts, didn't you, Alyssa?"

"Yeah, whenever my mother has something to deal with her father, we end up meeting each other."

"Do you think there's something wrong with her?"

Both Alyssa and Ren frowned.

"Well, she's nearly a blood traitor, but apart from that, she's alright," Alyssa said.

"If it weren't for the fact that she walks with Wright, I'd talk to her," Ren said, "She's been nice the few times I spoke with her."

"That's not what I meant,"

"What do you wanna know then?"

"I don't know. Daphne looks sad - she barely smiles anymore. I wondered if you had noticed it too."

"I didn't know you paid that much attention to Daphne, Hardin," Ren said mockingly. "Do you have a little crush on her?"

"No," He replied shortly, "I just think it's weird that she suddenly stopped smiling."

"She must be homesick," Alyssa said, "Her family is very close to each other - being away from them for long must be bothering her. Besides, Bedivere is a constant pain in the arse, and he has been quite annoying with them these days."

As they reached the common room entrance, Ren said the password and moved to the closest couches to the fireplace.

"If you ask me, half of our problems would have been solved if Bedivere's mother had allowed him to go to Durmstrang."

While Hardin was thinking about what Durmstrang could be, Alyssa said, "This is the reason why he came to Hogwarts?"

"Apparently, his mother didn't want him to be so far away from her." Ren said with no enthusiasm, "Such a shame. If I knew he would be attending Hogwarts, I would have asked my grandpa to send me to Durmstrang - he has friends there."

"Is this why he always looks like he wished to be anywhere but here?"

"Probably," Ren said, "Maybe he's also upset that nobody here treats him like the little king he thinks he is."

"Changing the topic," Alyssa said as she always did whenever Ren started to talk about Bedivere because this would often result in an endless conversation, "Do you know if it's true that Durmstrang teaches the Dark Arts there?"

Ren nodded, "Where do you think Grindelwald learned everything? It's a shame that Hogwarts doesn't teach it."

"Well, Hogwarts should do many things…"

Hardin heard them talk about Hogwarts problems - Alyssa once more complained about Professor Binns - and then mention the other big schools of magic spread worldwide. In this conversation, he learned that Europe possessed three major schools of magic and, although there were smaller ones in each country, they didn't have the same recognition. According to Alyssa, her mother wanted her to attend a smaller one, closer to London, but the girl's grandmother insisted on Hogwarts.

"What do you think it's the most useless subject we learn here?" Ren asked. "I'd say it's Herbology."

"I'm with you," Alyssa said.

"Potions."

Ren laughed, "You still aren't over Professor Snape, are you, Hardin? It's alright not to be the teacher's pet, for once."

"It's not that." Hardin argued, "It doesn't make sense that I receive the lowest grades. I accept that my potion isn't better than Edwin's one, but I know I deserve at least an Exceeds Expectations."

"Maybe you don't exceed his expectations," Ren replied cheekily.

"I think he has something against you." Alyssa said, "Perhaps you remind him of someone he doesn't like."

He sighed, "Then if he can't be professional, he shouldn't be teaching."

"Don't worry, Hardin. You'll get used to not being the best for once - I know because I have."

"How long until lunch, Ren?" Alyssa asked.

Ren took his pocket watch out, saying, "An hour and a half."

"Are you up for a match?"

"Chess or Exploding Snap, Alyssa?"

"Chess."

"I'm in," Ren said. "Do you want to play, Hardin?"

"I'm good. You two can play." He said. "I'll finish my Transfiguration essay."

As Ren went to the dorm to retrieve his chess set, Alyssa questioned, "Haven't you done it yesterday?"

"Professor McGonagall gave me some extra work."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I'm working with the theory of second-year's enchantments."

"Wow," She said, "You've finished the entire first-year topics?"

He nodded, "Turning inanimate objects into other inanimate objects isn't very hard. It's always the same principle. So, I've asked Professor McGonagall to hand me which enchantments she works with the second year."

"How's it going?"

"Turning living beings into objects it's a bit tough, but so far, I'm doing fine." He said proudly.

"My grandaunt works in the Transfiguration Today magazine. She's also one of the few who chooses which papers are going to be published." She commented, "I could introduce you two someday."

"I'd like that." He said honestly, "Thanks."

She simply smiled in response.

Once Ren returned with his fancy chess set, the two began to play while he pretended to write his essay. In fact, he was busier thinking about what he should do during the Christmas holidays.

At first, he had considered staying in Hogwarts so that he could enjoy the food and the castle's comfort. However, there were a few problems with this plan. Firstly, everybody he knew and heard talking about the holidays mentioned their desire to go back to their family. No one had said they would be staying in Hogwarts. Therefore, he had concluded that if he stayed in the castle, people would question why he hadn't gone back to his family and, then, he would have to admit he was an orphan, raised in the Muggle World. That would do no good for his reputation.

Secondly, he had a few places he wanted to visit to get some information. So, if he stayed in Hogwarts, he wouldn't be able to go to Godric's Hollow, for example. However, if he got out of Hogwarts during the holidays, he would have to find a place to stay - as going back to the orphanage was out of the question - and he didn't have much money to rent a room in the Leaky Cauldron, for instance.

'You could start selling homework, as Ren suggested. Maybe charge for the tutoring.' He thought. 'Or you can steal Professor Sprout's Venomous Tentacula leaves.'

"Ei, Alyssa,"

"Yes, Hardin?"

"Do you know how much Venomous Tentacula is worth?"

"I reckon my mother sells them for ten galleons each."

Ren whistled, "Quite a lot for a plant."

"Why, you ask?"

"Professor Sprout had offered me to help her with some plants last class." He partially lied, "I helped her to treat some of her examples, and she had mentioned they were very valuable. I was just curious."

"Well, my mother is very exigent with her suppliers, which is why the price in our shop is normally higher." She said, "If you go to that shop in the Knockturn Alley, I think you could buy it for less. What's the name of that apothecary, Ren?"

"Mr Mulpeppers, I reckon."

"Yeah, you might buy it for half the price if you go there. But the quality is inferior and, as everything you buy in the Knockturn Alley, there's a chance of illegal precedence."

'Yeah, you are going to steal some leaves, Hardin…' He thought. Then, to change the subject, he pointed to the chess set, saying, "You shouldn't have done that, Alyssa."

"Why not?"

"He placed his queen in that position because you'd be trapped." He explained, "Now, in his next move, he'll be able to take whatever piece you use to get his queen, and your king will be unprotected."

"Would you mind stop spoiling my move, Sayre?"

Hardin smiled, "I'm just trying to help a friend."

"Sod off, Sayre."

After Ren won the game and lunchtime arrived, the trio walked back to the Great Hall. Much to Alyssa's delight, Edwin sat by Hardin's side, and Ren took every opportunity he had to mock the girl. Once the lunch was over, Hardin separated himself from the rest of his friends, claiming he would study in the Library. Instead, he went towards the Trophy Room.

Ever since Ren had found the medal of Hardin Sayre I, from 1939, Hardin had spent a ridiculous amount of time searching through the room, attempting to find more information about his family. He had been fortunate to find lists containing former Prefects and Headstudents, where he found many other students with the same last name as him.

However, the problem was that Hogwarts had centuries of history. Therefore, there were thousands of names for him to analyse. He had started by the most recent rolls and was almost reaching the seventeenth-century one. At first, he had found the big gap between him and the other Hardin Sayre odd, but now, knowing about other magic schools' existence, perhaps his parents had simply attended another school.

It was almost dinner when he left the Trophy Room and went back to the common room, with a new list of names for him to memorise. Within his first days in Hogwarts, he had learned that many pure-bloods knew their entire family-three to prove their purity. Therefore, he had started to create one, although it merely contained the names, not the link between them. But, just by knowing a bit about Hardin Sayre I, he was already positive that he could keep people from talking for a long time. After all, how many people could brag that their grandfather was awarded a Medal of Magical Merit?

Once inside the common room, he was quickly grabbed by Katherine Gamp, who came to demand his tutoring, as they had agreed before. He observed her as she cast the Levitation Charm on one of her quills. As she had said, the charm started correctly, but it fell to the ground as a few seconds passed.

"I know I did the pronunciation and the movement correctly, but it never lasts."

"Performing spells is more than just saying funny words and waving the wand around," Hardin said, quoting Professor Flitwick's sentence to him a month ago in one of their many conversations. "You have to understand what you are doing for it to work properly."

"Well, there's isn't much to understand. My magic is making the quill float."

"What you said it's not technically wrong, but it isn't correct, either. What do you think magic is causing to the object for it to be able to float?"

"I don't know."

"Magic gives the object a direction and, once the object is already in the air, it will give it sense."

He got his wand and cast the Floating Charm into the quill on the table, "You see, at first, the objective of the spell is giving the object - in this case, the quill - direction so it can leave the table and float. But, when the quill is already floating, what the spell makes is to give sense to the quill. Which means magic is forcing the quill to go against its natural sense, preventing it from falling."

"But my quill keeps falling, so I'm getting this sense thing wrong."

"Yes," Hardin said, "Magic always works according to the intent of the caster, alongside with the enchantment and wand movement. You have the former two right, but you are missing the intent. What do you have in mind when you are trying to perform it?"

She looked a bit embarrassed, "That I don't want the quill to fall again."

Once more, quoting Professor Flitwick, Hardin said, "Magic is sentient, but isn't foolproof. When you keep in your mind the memory of your failure, giving more attention to the many times the object fell instead of aiming for the object to stay up, you mess with your spell's sense - which ends up making the spell lose its efficiency." He made a pause, "Professor Flitwick always says that you should have clear objectives when performing a spell."

"So, I should just be positive?"

"Yeah, be a little more confident." He smiled, "Don't think about failing but imagine the spell working perfectly. I want you to imagine the quill going up, reaching the height you want and stopping there - floating."

Katherine nodded and glanced over the quill in front of her. She swished and flicked her wand, saying, "Wingardium Leviosa."

Hardin observed as the quill went up, reaching at least four feet above them. However, as she released the spell was working, she turned towards him with a big smile, which caused the spell to be broken and the quill to fall.

"Great job. But it would be best if you hadn't looked at me. You lost your focus." He said, "Come, try it again. Don't mind anything else, just you and the spell."

After practising the spell a few dozen times, Katherine finally managed to perform perfectly, earning a big hug from her due to the achievement - which wasn't bad but didn't make him feel very comfortable either. Some things about socialisation were still weird for him.

"Do you always think this much about every spell?"

He shrugged, "To get them right on the first attempt, you normally have to think a lot about it. After a bit of practice, it comes out naturally."

Once more, Katherine thanked him, and they both went to their dorms to get ready for dinner. As Hardin reached his dorm, as always, the bathroom was occupied - this was the worst thing about sharing a room. Therefore, after giving a look in his bag, he got the Daily Prophet he had received from Edwin and started to flick through it.

Obviously, it mainly talked about the Downfall's event. There was an interview with Minister Bagnold herself, pictures and, then, one thing called Hardin's attention: Mrs Potter's answer when questioned about her losses during the war.

"We've all lost people we loved and made sacrifices thinking about what was more important. I've made decisions that I regret daily but had to be done, even if it caused me pain. Sometimes, following the right path is the hardest thing we can make…"

His only thought was, 'Just what have you done that you regret so highly, Mrs Potter?'