STEALING THUNDER

Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

AN: I want to clarify that Fred and George are indeed in the same year as Cedric in canon. The reason they can't enter the Triwizard Tournament is that Cedric's birthday is presumably either in September or October, while theirs aren't. And a reviewer pointed out the oddity of Darius bonding with a hornbeam wand, and yes, I do realize that, and it's going to be another plot point in the future. Also do keep in mind, that the purebloods could trace their lineage to hundreds of years, some even thousands, so there's definitely a possibility of Darius sharing a similarity with one of his many, many ancestors. And I had also mentioned that the wands were kept in the manor, not Gringgots, for the reason of their connections to the blood of the family. I know some of you are hoping for a time skip, but I don't think I could just bypass the first year. So I had decided on a chapter (this chapter) or maybe two (and another) for his early year(s) before jumping into a new plot (Dueling!). Anyway, thanks for the reviews, follows, favs!

The Hufflepuff Common Room is said to be earthy. And in hindsight, Darius should've expected it to be exactly that. The basement that served as their common room was located near the Hogwarts Kitchen. The exact entrance to the common room is located "in a nook on the right-hand side of the kitchen corridor, concealed behind a stack of barrels. In order to reveal and access said entrance, no password is required. Instead, one must tap the barrel two from the bottom, middle of the second row, in the rhythm of 'Helga Hufflepuff', which will make the lid swing open, exposing a passageway that will lead to the basement when crawled through. However, if the wrong lid is tapped or the wrong rhythm is used, the intruder will be doused in vinegar and barred access, that much was explained enough by the prefect last night.

Upon entering the common room itself, one would notice the architecture of the building to heavily favour the round shape. The other thing would be that the room was very yellow. Banners of yellow were draped over the low-ceiling of the circular-shaped room. The sofas and armchairs were also yellow. The windows that adorned the walls of the room were also round in shape. And The glass-made windows gave a beautiful view of rippling grass and dandelions. The next thing to notice about the common room was that it was earthy in a literal sense. Plants could be seen scattered throughout the room. Some danced and some of them sang, instead. Some decorated the ceilings, and others were planted on the walls and floors. To Darius, the whole room screamed, "Herbology!" Not that unexpected considering that their Head of House was the Herbology Professor.

Although let it not be said that the room wasn't comfy. It certainly was very comfortable. The overstuffed chairs and soft pillows that littered the room were enough to create a sense of comfort. And the plants also created a sense of calmness, a peaceful aura of the sorts, adding to the cozy and pleasant feeling of the room. In the middle of the room, a large portrait was hung on the hall, it was of a round and plump woman with black hair in a yellow dress. She was holding a golden chalice with her hands. She gave a nice and warm radiant smile, and it was the portrait of none other but Helga Hufflepuff, one of the founders of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Underneath the portrait of the founder was a large honey-coloured, wooden mantelpiece where carvings of badgers could be seen on it. All in all, the room gave a very welcoming aura. Quite ironic if one would take into account the fact that it was the most secure common room among the other common rooms of the Hogwarts Houses since it was said that no one had ever broken into the room in the last hundred of years. The entrance to the dormitory itself was, unsurprisingly, a large round door. The dormitory was divided into two for every year, one for the male students, and the other for the females. Darius found the dorm to be quite pleasant, what with all the coziness and comfiness.

That was all last night.

Now, Darius found himself the only one awake in the room. He shared the dormitory with 4 other boys, all of them still sleeping sound. The first-year students for Hufflepuff themselves consisted of 11 students. They had already introduced themselves the night before, trading chit chats and basic courtesy. Among the number of Darius's housemates were, of course, Cedric, for one, but he had already known him for years. There was also a Sean Johnson, apparently, a muggle-born, though not related to the future Gryffindor chaser Angelina Johnson despite their shared surname, and that much was visible from his different look, brown hair, and light skin. He seemed to be quite meek and shy, probably from his insecurity of being a muggle-born.

Another boy in their house was a James Monroe, a half-blood, with a muggle of a father, although he was brought up with the knowledge of magic due to his mother being a witch. He seemed to be an active person if his constant excited chattings were any indications. The last boy in their group was another pureblood heir, Sullivan Fawley, who turned out to be Darius's third cousin or something like that. He was quite the recluse, and he seemed like nothing but a role-model student with perfect manners and all that, but Darius was sure that it was just a facade and that the boy was just not comfortable enough with his new surroundings yet.

Likewise, the girls had also consisted of 5 students. Darius already knew Agatha Jenkins from their shared boat ride, but last night he learned that the auburn-haired girl was the daughter of the former Minister for Magic, Eugenia Jenkins. Her tenure lasted for 7 years, from 1968 to 1975, when she was ousted from the office for being deemed incapable of meeting the threat and challenge that was Lord Voldemort's campaign alongside his Death Eaters. There were also Elizabeth Moore and Sarah Kirk, both muggle-borns who seemed to go quite well with each other, both sticking to each other's side. Yet again, Darius theorized that this was due to the fact that they were both new to the magic world, and thus each of them was sticking to someone familiar.

There was also a Victoria Fortescue, a girl with brown hair, fair skin, and blue eyes. And yes, she was related to the famous Florean Fortescue who owned the popular Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour on the North Side of the Diagon Alley. The last one to round their year group was a girl who went with the name of Talia Boot. If Darius wasn't mistaken, a Boot was also among Harry's year, although he couldn't remember the name. Talia was a half-blood due to her maternal muggle-born grandfather. She had brown hair with dark-brown eyes, and she seemed to be one of the bigger girls.

He rubbed his eyes wearily, still half-asleep but at the same time, the thought of going back to sleep didn't sit well with him. Slowly, he sat upon his four-poster bed. He was clad in pajamas, silk pajamas, dark blue in colour. He observed the room and its inhabitants. All of them still slept soundly, seemingly without a care in the world. He searched for his wand, but as he was barely aware, he gave a swish with his bare right hand instead. And with a mutter of "Tempus."

The time was 5:40 in the morning. Breakfast wouldn't start until 6:30, so Darius had around 50 minutes of free and spare time. With a sigh, he climbed out of the bed, his bare feet touching the slightly cold yet also slightly warm stone floor.

"Hey, can you pass the syrup?"

"Sure, here it is."

"Thanks."

"So, any reasons on why we would wake up this early?"

"No reason. I'm just feeling like it."

"You know that we still have to wait for our timetable, right?"

"I know, Ced. I just want to take a walk, maybe?"

"I'm not sure, Darius. I don't think it's a good idea for a pair of first-years to wander on their first morning. What if Professor Sprout needs all the first years for something?"

With a grimace, Darius answered, "Yeah, you're probably right. Let's just head back to the common room after this while we wait for our classes."

The Great Hall of Hogwarts was still mostly empty. It was only 7 in the morning, after all. Usually, it would see its busiest during 8 o'clock, just an hour or so before the first class would start. Now, only a handful of people could be seen at each table. the staff table was also left mostly empty except for two professors who Darius couldn't recognize.

"Have you written home, yet?"

"I haven't. But I'm planning to write it when we're back in the common room. How about you?"

"Same."

They were interrupted by a voice asking from their left side at the table, "You two planning on finishing it by yourself?"

"Err, no, you can have it."

"Wait, aren't you two firsties? Why would you be so early?"

"Yes. We're just excited, I guess."

"Well, I'd be a hypocrite not to say that I did the same on my first day. Anyway, I'm Diego, Diego Caplan."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Darius Macmillan."

"And I'm Cedric Diggory."

"Macmillan? You sure took quite some time with the hat last night. But nonetheless, welcome to Hufflepuff, both of you."

"Thank you."

"So you're excited, huh. What are you interested in?"

"I'm interested in Charms, actually."

"Really? I'm quite good at Charms to say so myself. Extremely useful at Dueling, which is one of my favourites."

"Darius also likes du-"

"Cedric!"

"You want to be a duelist, too? Well, I'm not objecting to giving some pointers every once in a while. Just come to me when you want to, okay?"

"Thank you for the offer. I'll keep it in mind."

"Off you go, then. Better wait for your fellow first years, Professor Sprout would want you all together."

Cedric shouted, "Jump!"

"What?"

At the very moment, the staircase where the three of them were currently standing on, suddenly fell apart.

"I'm starting to hate this castle," said Darius as he landed on all four.

Agatha, who was also nearly caught in the trick, pitched in, "Can't disagree with that."

"This is like, *huff* our fifth time already!" lamented Darius as he straightened himself and patched his robes.

Thankfully, no later than a minute after that, they encountered a Hufflepuff prefect in one of the hallways.

"You three lost?" asked the older girl standing in front of them.

As diplomatic as ever, Cedric answered, "Yeah, help would be much appreciated."

"Well, you're supposed to be in the Charms class, correct? Follow me then." said the prefect.

"Oh, thank you."

"Cassandra, you're a lifesaver, you know that?"

They walked for around 5 minutes until they were finally in the Charms classroom hallway.

"Here it is. Charms classroom with Professor Flitwick. You still have around 15 minutes before the class starts."

"Thank you, Cassandra."

"Alright, Professor Flitwick may not seem like much, but he's a great professor and you will do your best as Hufflepuff, okay?"

Darius, who had known better about that particular fact compared to his year mates, answered, "We will."

"Well, I'll be off then," and with that, the prefect left them.

"Our first-class! This must be exciting!" said the only girl in their group.

"I know. I heard that Professor Flitwick was a dueling champion!"

As his face perked up, Cedric said, "Woah, really? You must be excited, then."

"I am."

Earlier, Professor Sprout had given them their school schedule. On Monday, they would have double Charms (R), a free period, and Transfiguration (R). Tuesday, a free period would be followed by a double Potions (R), another free period, and finally Defense Against the Dark Arts (S) and Transfiguration (R). Wednesday would be History of Magic (G), double free, double Herbology (R), and an Astronomy (G) lesson at midnight. Transfiguration (R) would be the first on Thursday, followed by a double free, then a History of Magic (G), and Potions (R). Lastly, on Friday, morning would begin with double free, then Defense Against the Dark Arts (S), Charms (R), and finally Transfiguration (R). Meanwhile, Saturday and Sunday would be free.

As the classroom door was still closed, they waited. Soon, the other students began to arrive.

"You guys made it already? We got lost multiple times!" said James in his Hufflepuff yellow robe and tie, walking alongside the rest of their housemates, or at least, most of the rest.

"Same. But we got a prefect to guide us."

The talk wasn't long, however, for a small figure walked toward them in black robes. It was the professor, Filius Flitwick, Head of House Ravenclaw, and Dueling Champion.

"Now, who would want to try first?" asked the tiny professor.

A hand was raised in the air.

Professor Flitwick nodded, "Mr. Macmillan? Well, do go on and try."

"Lumos!"

"Very good! Excellent, excellent! That will be 10 points for Hufflepuff! Splendid work, Mr. Macmillan, splendid work. Now, the others will try too. Remember the movement, and don't forget to pronounce it Lu-Mos!"

"Mr. Diggory has done it, too! Excellent! Another 5 points for Hufflepuff!"

Darius and Cedric sat in the middle of the class, at the second row of the desks. As they had finished their task, they just took to observing the other students and their performances. Darius could see Agatha still struggling, the tip of her wand occasionally gleaming with light but not quite stable.

An unsure voice could be heard from Darius's right side, "Hey, errrmm, do you mind helping for a bit?"

He turned to his side to see a silver-haired boy, "Sure. What do you want to ask?"

"Uhm, I think I did the movement right and said the spell correctly, but the spell is still not working, what should I do?"

"I think you should reach out to your magic a bit," said Darius as he motioned with his hand, "You know, feel it, don't just focus on moving the wand or saying the spell, you also have to draw the magic for the spell."

"Lumos!"

A glimmer of silver could be seen from the tip of the boy's wand.

"Try it once more, picture the light coming from your wand, clearly."

"Lumos!"

And true enough, a shining silvery light now shone brightly from the end of the wand.

"It worked! Thank you, uhh…."

"Darius Macmillan, but you can call me Darius."

"Right. thank you, Darius. I'm Tyler Lancaster, just Tyler as well."

"You're welcome, Tyler."

"5 points to Ravenclaw for Mr. Lancaster! And another 5 points for Hufflepuff for helping your friend, Mr. Macmillan."

…

"Now, that we have finished our attempt at casting the Lumos charm. I'm going to give you a chance to ask a question, anything, as long as it's related to Charms. This is your first day, after all."

Slowly, Darius raised his hand, "Professor, I have a question."

"Oh, yes, Mr. Macmillan?"

"Professor. Charming an object could also be said as an enchantment, right?"

"You're correct, Mr. Macmillan. Indeed, most would also refer to a large portion of charm as enchantment." answered the diminutive professor.

"Well, I'm wondering, if the effect of the enchantment should last for months or maybe years, does that mean that the caster is constantly using their magic to maintain the charm, or does it take just the one time during the initial casting?"

"That's a very good question, Mr. Macmillan. Let's use the Locking Charm as an example, although you won't learn it for quite many years, yet. Now, the Locking Charm is quite simple, and the intent is clear. Once you cast the spell on a lock, or on a door, then the object would stay locked until the spell is broken, or until the user canceled the spell. This, however, doesn't mean that the spell will continuously drain your magic, even to the point of, say, interfering with your other spell castings. But of course, not all charm would work this way, since there are many complex and high-level charms, most of them requiring a steady amount of focus and energy put into them. So, Mr. Macmillan, I believe your question is answered?"

"Yes. Thank you, professor."

"Very well, any more questions? No? In that case, class is dismissed, and there will be no homework for today."

Dear Darius,

We are so happy to finally hear from you! And congratulations on joining the Hufflepuff House! It is a great house to be in, and we are sure that you will be happy there with your friends.

And speaking of friends, how about you? Have you met any new friends, yet? Hufflepuff is known as a friendly house, and it is true. You will find no better loyalty or chivalry in other houses but Hufflepuff.

Ernie is of course, delighted to finally hear from his brother, although he had begged for us not to mention the fact that he squealed when we received your letter. We hope that the lessons are going alright even if we have no doubt that you will be adequate and capable enough to go through any of the challenges provided in your first year. With that said, we also have a great expectation for you, and we are sure that you will indeed do us proud.

How are the professors? We hope that you are getting along and for the professors to be proud of you. Professor Dumbledore may have his shortcomings, but his presence would assure your safety.

Your father has many suggestions for you, but your responsible mother has, of course, stirred him back to his logic. Make sure and choose wisely about who you trust, and who you befriend. We expect you to behave as befitting as your proper station during your stay at Hogwarts. More importantly, we also expect you to keep writing.

Love,

Mother and Father

P.S. Ernie insisted on sending a Howler, but we doubt that it would be good for you especially during your early days, so we convinced him otherwise

A few days had passed since his arrival at Hogwarts.

Darius was now nearing the end of the last lesson of the day, the Transfiguration with Professor McGonagall alongside the Ravenclaws. With the day about to be concluded, Darius would have a free two days since the day was Friday. This also meant that he was about to finish the first week of his first year. He had attended all lessons throughout the week, so he already met and knew his first-year professors.

The only unrecognizable face was the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. Herman Lawrence, retired Auror of 54-year-old. By all accounts, the man was a boring and ordinary teacher, certainly not possessing the quirkiness nor the complications that were the would-be professors during the main protagonist's years. The man had a few visible scars, some lining up his face, and others decorated his hands.

So far, the only kind of roadblock that Darius had encountered was none other than the elusive Potions Master, Severus Snape. As Darius had expected, Potions was not one of his fortes. Despite this, however, he wasn't by any means failing at Potions or something like that. The reason was just mostly as depicted in the canon, what with the professor's overbearing and intimidating presence and what seemed to be his appetite to screw over his own students, although Darius had imagined that the fate of the Gryffindors would be worse than his and his house.

Speaking of Gryffindor, Darius and Cedric had met the Weasley Twins a couple of times throughout their first week. They seemed to fit in perfectly in the House of Lions, and it had also looked like they had begun their friendship with the future Quidditch Commentator, Lee Jordan. The Weasley Twins had also reminded Darius of a valuable and priceless asset in the form of the Marauder's Map. He had gathered that the map was currently laying around in Filch's office, until it would be stolen by the twins sometime this year during their detention. And the twins themselves already had their first detention, so his time was running quite short. Darius himself had his own plan regarding the map, although he still debated the worth of the plan itself.

"... And for your homework, I expect a 3 ft parchment of an essay of your opinion on the Transformation Formula, on each element of it, and how exactly they correlate and affect the intended transformation, no later and sooner than our next lesson. The essay shouldn't be longer than the requested 3 ft long. Since there is no question, you are free to leave the class."

Soon, the students stood up from their respective desks, taking their belongings with them as they walked out of the Transfiguration classroom. It was the third and final transfiguration class of the week.

"Oh, Ced, you're not leaving?"

The other boy offered a sheepish smile and said, "Just a moment. Wait for me, okay?"

With a nod, Darius acknowledged his friend's request and he left the room as his steps quickened. He reached the door and exited, although not straying for too far as he hung around the entrance door instead, waiting.

A few minutes passed.

"Sorry. I just got a few questions for Professor McGonagall."

"It's fine. So, what did you talk about?"

"Not much. I asked for a suitable book suggestion and she gave me a few that she said was available at the library. Want to accompany me to check it, later?"

With a shrug, Darius answered, "Sure."

"Thanks. So, our first week. Finally! We finished it. You have any idea on what we should do, any plan?"

"Actually, I do."

With that, Darius led Cedric into the seventh floor of the Hogwarts Castle. They walked through the left corridor of the floor. Slowly, they approached the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy teaching trolls to ballet.

"Uh, Darius. What exactly do I have to expect, now?"

"Oh, you have no idea. Wait for it."

Darius was pacing back and forth. He had walked across the tapestry for three times, all the while thinking as loud as he could be of "I need a room to learn. I need a room to learn"

Suddenly, a door appeared from the wall that was previously bare, in just a splitting second.

"So this is the Room of Requirement."

Darius walked to the door, and the door was opened by itself. It revealed a large room with multiple shelves, a library of its own. Soft chairs and comfy sofas with pillows could be seen in the middle of the room. The room was bright in colour, and there was also a fireplace nearby the seat and the desk, creating warmth and heat for the room.

'I need a cupboard.'

And soon enough, a cupboard of brown wood appeared not far from the series of furniture that was in the middle of the room.

"Wow, the possibility of this room, it's truly endless…"

Still amazed, Darius approached the bookshelves. For some minutes, he spent his time doing nothing but checking on the books that had been provided by the magic of the room. Finally, his attention settled on one particular book. The book was dark velvet, it retained its refined edges, showing no indications of an old, or dusty book.

A Shadow on the Wall by Cassandra Trelawney

"Cassandra Trelawney. She's the ancestor of Professor Trelawney, renowned for her ability as a seer. A prophecy book?"

He sat on the chair that had been provided by the room. For an hour or so, Darius focused his attention on the book, especially with the dreams that he had been getting for a couple of times throughout his life.

"You're telling me, that this is a room that can magically provide us anything as long as it doesn't break the rules of magic?"

"That's about right."

"No way. How did you even find this place?"

"Eh, it's actually Mimi. As you know, she was once a Hogwarts house-elf until a great-grandmother of mine, or one of my ancestors, anyway, I think, offered her to work for us. And so, I had asked her about interesting things here, secrets, and other stuff like that. And she said that there's a secret room on the seventh floor of which the elves dubbed it the "Come-and-Go Room""

In truth, Darius did indeed ask his house-elf that question, and Mimi did answer that there existed such a room, although she didn't tell him of its whereabouts, not that anyone would need to know that.

"So you visited the room yesterday?"

"I did. And it's awesome, I found so many interesting books, there! Rare books! Although I think this room obeyed the rules of Hogwarts to a certain point since no matter how much I tried, I couldn't find any of the seemingly forbidden books of the sorts."

"Still. This room means so many things!"

Darius had debated the notion of 'sharing' the room with anyone. On one hand, keeping the room to himself would allow himself more leeways on a personal level. While on the other hand, randomly disappearing into such a room every once in a while, alone, while not even your best friend would know where didn't seem to bode well for him as it would draw many, many attentions, or worse, prying eyes.

"Wait, does this mean that we can have a personal training room?"

Darius gave a wicked grin as he turned to face his best friend, "Damn, right!"

"So, what do you want to do, then?"

"I'm not sure, guess I'll just continue skimming through the books from yesterday." answered the golden-haired boy.

"I think I'm going to do the same. Directly going into training doesn't seem like such a good idea, right now."

People would often confuse Divination to be restricted to prophecies and seers. While in truth, there lies a little power of the inner eye inside of every wizard and witch. The Art of Divination, or Fortune-Telling in its simpler form, is not an always passive, nor is it an active branch of magic. And while there exist a lot of methods to divine, I have found that it is the unexpected and passive signs that bear more weight.

To those who bear the true burden of the inner eye as a true seer, the power of divination is a burden at times. An uninvited and unwelcome harbinger of misfortune. Haunting whispers that sigh in silence. As a habit, seers would get used to the notion of divining omens and signs in what seemed to be a fleeting dream. To the untrained, however, a single dream would mean naught but a dream.

Prophetic dreams aren't limited to only seers or practitioners of divination. A common wizard or witch could potentially receive prophetic dreams even greater or clearer than seers. But of course, these dreams don't always lead to the right way, as they are, very rarely, literal in meaning. Many seers had lost themselves to the notion and concept of chasing dreams, either wild or prophecies.

His attention was broken, however, when a voice interrupted his focus, "Prophecies? Why, don't tell me you're interested in divination all of a sudden?"

"No, it's nothing like that. The name of the author just got my attention."

"Cassandra Trelawney? Ah, she was a famous seer, I think, right?"

"Yeah, she was," said Darius as he returned his attention to the pages of the book, "So you can imagine that a book written by her is bound to be interesting at the very least. What about you?"

"Haven't decided yet. Hey, do you think we can take the book outside of this room? Like, bringing it to the dormitory?"

Darius offered a shrug that had been slowly becoming a signature of his, "I don't know. I haven't tried it, yet."

After spending around an hour in the room, they both decided to head back to their common room. Cedric himself carried none of the books from the room, opting to just return back at a later time. Unknown to him, Darius sneaked himself and carried one of the books that had been provided by the room, it was titled The Way of the Mind-Arts. It was time for him to rectify his negligence.

"Charlie has this in the-"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"SLYTHERIN!"

The deafening roar of the crowd was proof enough of the love that Hogwarts students held for Quidditch.

It was now November.

The famous Hogwarts Halloween feast was last week. Unlike in the book, though, thankfully, nothing happened during the processing of the feast, no rampaging troll, no words written in blood, and certainly no supposed mass-murdered infiltrating the castle.

One of the things that had happened during his stay at Hogwarts was the taking of the famous Marauder's Map. The key to achieving turned out to be simpler and easier than Darius had imagined before. All it took was just a bit of connection, and gossiping house-elves.

"Hey, Tilly. As you know, I am Darius Macmillan and I'm one of the lucky people to have Mimi as their house-elf. You are her friend, right?"

And with that, he had managed to get hold of one of the most brilliant pieces of magic, and a tremendously useful one at that. Apparently, the house-elves of Hogwarts didn't have much love, or more accurately, no love at all, for the grumpy caretaker Mr. Filch. So, Tilly was all too happy to steal nothing but a blank piece of parchment from the man's office.

He hadn't begun dismantling or breaking down the theories and structures of the map, or something as ambitious as recreating it. Why, he himself didn't use the map that often, and considering the location of his dormitory was in the basement, Darius had mostly used the map only to sneak around to the Room of Requirement, and if he was bored, perhaps 'stalking' a person or two through the map. Although about the map itself, Darius decided to keep its existence to himself for a while.

During the time had spent at Hogwarts, Darius had managed to craft himself a persona of a talented, perfect, and model student in front of the teachers, not that he did many illegal activities or such behind their back, though. He went along the best with Professor Flitwick, mostly due to his talent and serious interest in Charms. And although Darius was far from considered special in Herbology, Professor Sprout seemed quite taken with him, and Cedric, too. No doubt the witch was proud of her students gaining attentions. Professor Binns, the ghost, was every bit as boring as depicted in the canon, and so he didn't pay much attention to him. The only thorn that remained was still Snape. While at the topic of professor, Darius's mind had drifted to the headmaster, Professor Albus Dumbledore. He didn't seem to suspect anything from him, as the old wizard himself didn't make any move to endear himself to him, or approaching him, at all. Either he didn't consider himself too interesting to take notice personally, or that there was indeed some divine intervention.

The coming of November had also meant that Darius's 12th birthday had passed. And so did Cedric's.

He had celebrated his birthday in the least grand way possible, just a little trip to the kitchen with some of his housemates. After the past few months, a trip to the kitchen seemed to be normal and at this point, a routine for any Hufflepuff students. The fact that the location of the kitchen itself took them not more than a couple of steps to reach it was also a rather supporting point at that.

In the Hufflepuff itself, Darius was particularly close to only a few people. First of all, was Cedric who was already his best friend. Then Agatha, since they had met each other since the ride. Another person was his cousin, Sullivan, who had begun to open up and let loose every once in a while. James, the good-natured and most naive, was also a person Darius could consider to be a friend, although more often than not, said boy would be acting too close and familiar at times. From the girls though, aside from the former minister's daughter, Darius didn't befriend or interact much with them, except for perhaps Victoria Fortescue, who was very open to people.

For his birthday, his parents had gifted him an Acromantula silk scarf for his birthday, saying that as winter was approaching, the gift would be appropriate and much-needed. It was nothing grand, but both of them had written in their letter for a further gift when he came back home at Christmas. His brother, Ernie, had also sent him a personal letter, alongside a personal gift of smuggled homemade fudges, to which he dearly appreciated. And in regard to gifts, since both of their birthdays happened during school term, Cedric and Darius both decided to just exchange gifts after they returned home during the break, as both of them had conveniently forgotten the possibility of mail-order or something similar.

And with the occasion of his birthday over, it meant that the Quidditch season had begun. The opening match was, of course, the traditional rivalry of Gryffindor against Slytherin. Fred and George had pestered Darius to go to the match, and apparently, Cedric shared the same enthusiasm as the two.

So, Darius was here now, in red-themed clothes, cheering and rooting for the red and gold of the Gryffindor House.

"- and Grimmett is on the chase! He took the quaffle! And he dives, he dives! Intercepted by Emerich! A straight fly! He passed the Gryffindors chasers! Wood is attempting to block and- Slytherins score!"

"Those slimy-

"slithering snakes!"

"It's just a game, it's not like it's that much of a deal."

"WHAT!?"

"...it's just a game."

"Darius, it's-

"Quidditch!"

"Weasley has spotted the snitch! He's diving in! Wait, Terrell has seen it, too! It's a tough race! They're neck-and-neck! Charlie Weasley is closing in, he's going for a grab and- what a bludger from Grafton! Slytherin's going to win the game, but oh wait, oh, AND TERREL'S OUT! A bludger straight to the face from Hudson!"

Cedric, who was sitting amused next to Darius and currently, continuously chatty Weasley Twins, glanced at his friend and with an apologetic smile, he said, "Well, you get into this mess by yourself."

"-it's sacred-

"-holy and the-

"best-"

"Quite the dirty move from the Slytherins. A foul! Madam Hooch had granted a penalty for the Gryffindors. And- Hayden scores!"

Darius, meanwhile, opted to completely ignore the two Weasleys that were busy berating and educating him about the said so greatness of Quidditch. To be frank, Darius had never been a sports guy, so even if the thought of flying was exciting for him, the sport variation of it that was the Quidditch didn't appeal much to him.

"Now, when I blow my whistle, you kick off from the ground, hard," said Madam Hooch. "Keep your brooms steady, rise a few feet, and then come straight back down by leaning forward slightly. On my whistle — three — two — one!"

The students began to take off. It was a joint class between Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, as most of their classes were.

"Fancy a race?" asked the Diggory heir who was flying beside Darius, both of them keeping their height and distance close.

"You're on."

The two of them sped up and circled the air above the empty ground below. Although both of them were careful enough not to pull any stunts or maneuvers that could get them in trouble, especially for a first lesson.

It was a wonderful experience. More so for the Macmillan heir, for despite of his love and middling talent at flying, didn't spare much time for the activity itself. Unlike the brunette who was rather interested, heavily, in quidditch, and because of that, flying, too.

Darius could feel the rush of joy in him, the wind rustling and blowing through his body. His robes swirling freely in the air as adrenaline took him completely to the ecstatic feeling of freedom that was flying. This was something straight out of a dream, to fly with a broomstick, of all things!

"Woohooo!"

From the height, Darius could see the rest of his classmates. Most of them were still hovering quite close to the ground, although some had also journeyed farther to the air above. He strengthened his grip on the broom and turned it upward as he accelerated. He could see Cedric doing the same thing, no doubt keeping himself equal and unwilling to be outmatched.

'This is Hogwarts! I'm truly here.'

And indeed, Darius could see the vastness that was the Black Lake from his position in the air. The many daunting and majestic towers of Hogwarts Castle were also visible, their tips seemingly reaching the sky above. And for a moment there, Darius was captivated.

When he glanced at his side, Darius saw Cedric sporting a grin as wide as his own.

"Race you to the gr-"

A whistle rang from beneath them, "Mr. Diggory! Mr. Macmillan!"

Confused, Darius and Cedric shared a glance together, obviously worried about why Madam Hooch would suddenly stop and call them.

Slowly, they began making their way downward, adjusting the speed of their broom as they neared the ground below, where they could see the rest of their year mates already on the ground. And they had noticed just then, that the reason they were called was that they didn't hear the first call to return back to the ground.

"Madam Hooch, we are-"

"That's some impressive flying there, both of you. Tell me, are you both interested in Quidditch, then?"

"Well, I'm not. But Cedric is!"

"Such a shame, then, Mr. Macmillan. You both have talent, and I'm sure you will be able to join your house team next year, Mr. Diggory. I believe you are suited to the position of Seeker itself, don't you think?"

Soon enough, Madam Hooch gathered the students that were still unable to fly their brooms. Darius and Cedric, on the other hand, were swarmed by the rest of the students that were clearly interested in them after Madam Hooch's comment.

One of their housemates, the ever-energetic James approached them, his eyes shining as it sparked with excitement, "Wow! You two are so cool! You went like this and he went like that!" said the boy as he made various hand gestures to describe what apparently was their previous flying maneuver.

"Thank you, James. And I think you're not bad, too."

The boy seemed pleased enough with that comment as he went back to their group. Darius spared a glance at another one of his housemates, the Fawley heir, Sullivan Fawley. When he said that the boy was a recluse, he wasn't kidding, for the pureblood heir rarely said more than a couple of words except for the time they were in class.

Considering they were cousins, Darius thought that his parents would disapprove if he just left him alone.

"So, you like flying, cousin?" asked Darius.

To which the boy with light-brown hair answered, albeit only half-passionately, "It's not for me, I guess. But I am not half-bad at it, either."

"We should fly together once in a while, then."

"I'm looking forward to it, cousin." replied his cousin back with a tight smile and an equally tight nod.

Sighing, Darius supposed he had just to try a different approach to his cousin at a later time. At the same time, a girl had broken free from her group as she walked, approaching him.

"You didn't tell me that you guys are such great flyers!"

It was Agatha, the girl that had begun to join the two of them regularly. And by all means, they had also started to warm up to the girl. She was a hard worker, polite, and she's quite smart, too. The side fact that she was able to quickly adapt to their behaviours and manners was also a helping hand to ease their reluctance.

"Eh, we're not that great, I think…"

And so, instead of humouring Fred and George, he just focused his attention on the game that was playing in front of him. He also listened to the excited voice of an older Gryffindor student, Murphy McNully, a disabled student who used a wheelchair, as he provided quite the great and tactful insight to the current match, though not quite the level of obsessive comments that were Lee Jordan's.

"It's another race to the snitch! Weasley is in the lea- no, it's Terrell, now! And back to Weasley! It's a tight race! They both are going for the grab and- CHARLIE WEASLEY HAS CAUGHT THE SNITCH! It's a victory for Gryffindors!"

The twin sounds of ferocious yelling could be heard from Darius's side, "Yeah, Charlie!"

Happy shouts and cries of celebration rang clear in the stadium, the Gryffindors were, of course, the loudest of the bunch. Meanwhile, collective groans and shouts of disappointments and disbelief could also be heard, this time coming from the Slytherin stands.

"It's going to be a party in the common room!"

Left, Right, Left, another Left, Roll, Right, Left, Roll, Right, another Right.

Darius moved frantically to various sides as he tried his best to dodge the incoming balls of doom.

He was currently in the Room of Requirement, right in the middle of one of his training sessions that had been going for quite some time. He panted as he tried to catch his breath, but that split second of fatigue had cost him a hit to his stomach.

"Ouch!"

Exhausted, he fell to his back as he laid down on the floor of the room, sprawled as he was too tired to continue for a while.

"Huh.. Hah… Wait, no!" he cried frantically as it turned out that the room didn't agree with his short break as another ball shot right to his inclined forehead, "Argh! What the damn hell! Can I just get a quick break?"

He mustered the little strength he had left. By his estimation, it would be near to the one-hour mark of his training.

"Alright, let's go at this one more time."

Darius knew the importance of this particular exercise. After all, erecting or conjuring shields continuously in a battle would be inefficient and terribly wasteful in the long run, so unless he found a way to expand his magic reserve into limitless, he would have to make do with the dodging exercise.

"Wait, I need a training device that will shoot coloured lights at me."

And the ball-throwing device (that had somehow been recreated with magic) in front of him disappeared. Replaced in a favour of a training dummy in the shape of a person.

"I'm brilliant! But on the other hand, I'm so stupid for not thinking this early! Gah!" berated Darius to himself.

"Okay, here we go."

And with that, he jumped to either left or right, crouched down, rolled to his front or back, dodging the various lights with all the might he could. The lights were indeed varied in colour. Although, it would be green for every other 3, probably due to the nature of the Avada Kedavra or the Killing Curse with its green-coloured light.

His eyes began to tire from the constant adjustments to the different brightness of the shooting lights. He shook his head as he side-stepped to the right, avoiding an angry-looking red spark, only to find himself right on the track of a green light quickly making its way toward him. Without further thought, Darius bent himself backward, narrowly avoiding the green spark, only barely, as it passed just inches of his nose as he was still in the process of dodging it.

"Dammit! My reaction time is still not fast enough! I still need to work on my reflexes!"

This time, Darius truly took a break from his rigorous training. He was alone as Cedric decided to spend his time in bed or the common room, instead, saying that he was feeling under the weather.

After a rest and a chilling drink as a break, Darius decided to continue his productiveness in utilizing the room. The difference was, he now wanted to experiment in his magic and perhaps, spell crafting, instead of a physical training like before.

He took out a book, his journal, or notebook to be more precise. He had written his theories and notes about his experiments and exercises there. He was still trying to start low, beginning with his theory of magic and sound. So far, he had managed to conjure the sound, albeit still randomly at times, and more importantly, still far from the melodious and symphonized result that he was hoping to achieve. He had reached his current point mostly by going through trials and errors, knocking out himself in the process, or accidentally depleting his reserve had been a custom and routine practice during his experiment.

He waved his wand in a motion similar to the Greek letter lambda (λ) as he muttered his chosen and bound name of the spell, "Cantando."

He had taken the name of a music term, Italian, in particular, and it literally meant "singing". The term itself was often synchronized with another term that was Cantabile which meant "singable or songlike". The intent of the spell itself was to create a melody, or a symphony, perhaps that would be able to influence the mind or senses of a target, either in a positive way of soothing and calming effect, or that of a drug and hypnotizing one.

As soon as he uttered the spell, a sound of a melodious symphony was heard echoing throughout the room itself. Darius himself had never heard of a phoenix song or its thrill, but the thought of it had been one of the inspirations that he used as a base for the creation of a spell.

"Success? It's working!"

He scribed another note in his book.

Attempt November 14th, 1989.

Music came out well-structured and well-symphonized. Perfect melody and no discordant notes with no disjoints, either. Effects were partially successful, at least. No test subject, hard to conclude.

He celebrated happily as so far it wasn't disjointed and there had been no discordant notes. Of course, the spell would only be able to be said as perfect when he would be able to manipulate the style directly and essentially, conducting the conjured music.

For now, however, it was out of his reach, since he still couldn't replicate the more complex and challenging musical notations. He didn't feel the effect much or directly, but Darius felt the slight difference of the aura of the room, turning more calmful and lulling, not unlike one of a bedtime lullaby.

"I need a test subject, now. Hmmmm, I wonder if Cedric would mind? Perhaps I need to bribe him with something…"

AN: So that's chapter 6. Hope you enjoy it. And yes, I did use some characters from the Hogwarts Mystery game, but I won't be importing plots and their personalities straight from the game. For one, I never actually finish the game itself. So, thoughts and recommendations? Reviews would be dearly appreciated and I am also open to criticisms and any flaws that can be spotted in the story for the sake of improving myself. Also, as you may have noticed, this update took far longer than the previous ones, so I would give you a heads up that the next updates would probably have the same interval as this one.