Welcome, everyone, to the next chapter of HP: The Path of Trials! Not much to note here except...

Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing of HP save for OC's.

Now, here's...

Chapter 13: One Crazy Death Stare

Enjoy, one and all!

By the time Marcus and Lorelei had finished with their workout the following morning, the storm had blown over. Though the ceiling in the Great Hall was still gloomy; heavy clouds of pewter gray swirled overhead as Marcus, Harry, Ron, and Hermione examined their new course schedules at breakfast. A few seats along, Fred, George, and Lee Jordan were discussing magical methods of aging themselves and bluffing their way into the Triwzard Tournament.

"Today's not bad...outside all morning," said Ron, who was running his finger down the Monday column of his schedule. "Herbology with the Hufflepuffs and Care of Magical Creatures...damn it, we're still with the Slytherins..."

"Oh, come on, double Divinations this afternoon?!" Marcus groaned in agony, looking at his schedule. Divinations was his second least favorite class, and that was only by a small margin, his least favorite being Potions. Not only was Professor Trelawney, in Marcus' opinion, a complete fraud, but she would unnecessarily laud over his work in the class on top of predicting Harry's death once ever ten seconds, something that both boys found extremely annoying.

"You should have given it up like me, shouldn't you?" said Hermione briskly, buttering herself some toast. "Then you'd be doing something sensible, like Arithmancy."

"You're eating again, I notice," said Ron, watching Hermione adding liberal amounts of jam to her toast too.

"I've decided there are better ways of making a stand about elf rights," said Hermione haughtily.

"That, and you got hungry," said Marcus, smirking at the irony.

There was a sudden rustling noise above them, and a hundred owls came soaring through the open windows carrying the morning mail. Marcus looked up to find his owl, Archie, approachinng him with a letter tied to his left leg.

"Thanks for the letter, Archie," said Marcus as he untied the letter upon landing. "Help yourself to a couple of bites of breakfast, then take a rest in the Owlery."

As Archie flew off and Marcus tucked his letter away to read later, a large tawny owl soared down to Neville Longbottom and desposited a parcel into his lap - Neville almost always forgotten to pack something. On the other side of the Hall, Draco Malfoy's eagle owl had landed on his shoulder, carrying what looked like his usual supply of sweets and cakes from home.

Marcus couldn't stop thinking just what things Cedric could bring to the workouts until him and his classmates arrived at greenhouse three. It was here that Professor Sprout was showing the class the ugliest plants Marcus had ever seen. It looked more thick, black, giant slugs than actual plants, the way they were protruding vertically out of the soil. Each was squirming slightly and had a number of large, shiny swellings upon it, which appeared to be full of liquid.

"Bubotubers," Professor Sprout told them briskly. "They need squeezing. You will collect the pus -"

"The what?" said Seamus Finnigan, sounding revolted.

"Pus, Finnigan, pus," said Professor Sprout, "and it's extremely valuable, so don't waste it. You will collect the pus, I say, in these bottles. Wear your dragon-hide gloves; it can do funny things to the skin when undiluted, bubotuber pus."

Squeezing the bubotubers was disgusting, to say the least, but it was also oddly satisfying. As each swelling was popped, a large amount of thick yellowish-green liquid burst forth, which smelled strongly of petrol. They caught it in the bottles as Professor Sprout had indicated, and by the end of the lesson had collected several pints.

"This'll keep Madam Pomfrey happy," said Professor Sprout, stoppering the last bottle with a cork. "An excellent remedy for the more stubborn forms of acne, bubotuber pus. Should stop students resorting to desperate measures to rid themselves of pimples."

"Like poor Eloise Midgen," said Hannah Abbott, a Hufflepuff, in a hushed voice. "She tried to curse hers off."

"Silly girl," said Professor Sprout, shaking her head. "But Madam Pomfrey fixed her nose back on in the end."

A booming bell echoed from the castle across the wet grounds, signaling the end of the lesson, and the class separated; the Hufflepuffs climbing the stone steps for Transfiguration, and the Gryffindors heading in the other direction, down the sloping lawn toward Hagrid's small wooden cabin, which stood on the edge of the Forbidden Forest.

Hagrid was standing outside his hut, one hand on the collar of his enormous black boarhound, Fang. There were several open wooden crates on the ground at his feet, and Fang was whimpering and straining at his collar,apparently keen to investigate the contents more closely. As they drew nearer, an odd rattling noise reached their ears, punctuated by what sounded like minor explosions.

"Mornin'!" Hagrid said, grinning at Marcus, Harry, Ron, and Hermione. "Be'er wait fer the Slytherins, they won' want ter miss this - Blast Ended Skrewts!"

"Come again?" said Ron.

Hagrid pointed down into the crates.

"Eurgh!" squealed Lavender Brown, jumping backward.

"Eurgh" was a mild way of thinking when it came to the Blast-Ended Skrewts, in Marcus' opinion. They looked like deformed, shell-less lobsters, horribly pale and slimy-looking, with legs sticking out in very odd places and no visible heads. There were about a hundred of them in each crate, each about six inches long, crawling over one another, bumping blindly into the sides of the boxes. They were giving off a very powerful smell of rotting fish, something that was making Marcus unusally nauseous. Every now and then, sparks would fly out of the end of a skrewt, and with a small phut, it would be propelled foward several inches.

"On'y jus' hatched," said Hagrid proudly, "so yeh'll be able ter raise 'em yerselves! Thought we'd make a bit of a project of it!"

"And why would we want to raise them?" said a cold voice.

The Slytherins had arrived. The speaker was Draco Malfoy. Crabbe and Goyle were chuckling appreciatively at his words.

Hagrid looked stumped at the question.

"I mean, what do they do?" asked Malfoy. "What is the point of them?"

Hagrid opened his mouth, apparently thinking hard; there was a few seconds' pause, then he said roughly, "Tha's next lesson, Malfoy. Yer jus' feedin' 'em today. Now, yeh'll wan' ter try 'em on a few diff'rent things - I've never had 'em before, not sure what they'll go fer - I got ant eggs an' frog livers an' a bit o' grass snake - just try 'em out with a bit of each."

"First pus and now this," muttered Seamus.

Nothing but deep affection for Hagrid could have made Marcus, Harry, Ron, and Hermione pick up squelchy handfuls of frog liver and lower them into the crates to tempt the Blast-Ended Skrewts. Marcus had a great suspicion that trying to feed the Blast-Ended Skrewts was pointless, considering they didn't seem to have mouths.

"Ouch!" yelled Dean Thomas after about ten minutes. "It got me!"

Hagrid hurried over to him, looking anxious.

"Its end exploded!" said Dean angrily, showing Hagrid a burn on his hand.

"Ah, yeah, that can happen when they blast off," said Hagrid, nodding.

"Eurgh!" said Lavender Brown again. "Eurgh, Hagrid, what's that pointy thing on it?"

"Ah, some of 'em have got stings," said Hagrid enthusiastically (Lavender quickly withdrew her hand from the box). "I reckon they're the males...The females've got sorta sucker things on their bellies...I think they might be ter suck blood."

"Well, I can certainly see why we're trying to keep them alive," said Malfoy sarcastically. "Who would want pets that can burn, sting, and bite all at once?"

"Just because they're not very pretty, it doesn't mean they're not useful," Hermione snapped. "Dragon's blood's amazingly magical, but you wouldn't want a dragon for a pet, would you?"

Marcus, Harry, and Ron grinned at Hagrid, who gave them a furtive smile from behind his bushy beard. Hagrid would have liked nothing better than a pet dragon, as the four of them knew only too well - he had owned one for a brief period during their first year, a vicious Norweigen Ridgeback by the name of Norbert. Hagrid simply loved monstrous creatures. The more lethal they were, the better they were in Hagrid's eyes.

"Well, at least the skrewts are small," said Ron as they made their way back up to the castle for lunch an hour later.

"They are now," said Hermione in an exasperated voice, "but once Hagrid's found out what they eat, I expect they'll be six feet long."

"Well, that won't matter if they turn out to cure seasickness of something, will it?" said Ron, grinning slyly at her.

"You know perfectly well I only said that to shut Malfoy up," said Hermione. "As a matter of fact I think he's right. The best thing to do would be to stamp on the lot of them before they start attacking us all."

They sat down at the Gryffindor table and helped themselves to lamb chops and potatoes. Hermione began to eat so fast that Marcus, Harry, and Ron stared at her.

"Er - this wouldn't happen to be the new stand on elf rights, is it?" asked Marcus. "You're going to make yourself puke instead?"

"No," said Hermione, with as much dignity as she could muster with her mouth bulging with sprouts. "I just want to get to the library."

"What?" said Ron in disbelief. "Hermione - it's the first day back! We haven't even got homework yet!"

Hermione shrugged and continued to shovel down her food as though she had not eaten for days. Then she leapt to her feet, said, "See you at dinner!" and departed at high speed.

When the bell rang to signal the start of afternoon lessons, Marcus, Harry, and Ron set off for North Tower where, at the top of a tightly spiraling staircase, a silver stepladder led to a circular trapdoor in the ceiling, and the room where Professor Trelawney lived.

The familiar sweet perfume spreading from the fire met their nostrils as they emerged at the top of the stepladder. As ever, the curtains were all closed; the circular room was bathed in a dim reddish light cast by the many lamps, which were all draped with scarves and shawls. Marcus, Harry, and Ron walked through the mass of occupied chintz chair and poufs that cluttered the room, and sat down at the same small circular table.

"Good day," said the misty voice of Professor Trelawney right behind Harry, making Harry jump.

A very thin woman with enormous glasses that made her eyes appear far too large for her face, Professor Trelawney was peering down at Harry with the tragic expression she always wore whenever she saw him. The usual large amounts of beads, chains, and bangles glittered upon her person in the firelight.

"You are preoccupied, my dear," she said mournfully to Harry. "My inner eye see past your brave face to the troubled soul within. And I regret to say that your worries are not baseless. I see difficult times ahead of you, alas...most difficult...I fear the thing you dread will indeed come to pass...and perhaps sooner than you think..."

She then looked at Marcus and, instead of dawning a look of joy, kept the same, somber look she ususally had for Harry, which set Marcus on edge.

"I fear that your future is not as different as young Harry, young Marcus," she said in a rather low whisper. "You will be burdened...yes, quite burdened...burdened with knowledge and unwanted truths. Beware your past...for it will catch up to you before you realize it."

While Ron rolled his eyes and Harry gave Professor Trelawney a stony look, Marcus felt a rather cold chill up his spine. Professor Trelawney swept past them and seated herself in a large winged armchair before the fire, facing the class. Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil, who deeply admired Professor Trelawney, were sitting on poufs very close to her.

"My dears, it is time for us to consider the stars," she said. "The movements of the planets and the mysterious portents they reveal only to those who understand the steps of the celestial dance. Human destiny may be deciphered by the planetary rays, which intermingle..."

It was here that Marcus' mind started to wander. Did Professor Trelawney, by chance, know what had been going on with Marcus recently? What exactly did she mean when she said that his past would catch up to him before he knew it?

Marcus was in very deep thought about these things. So deep, in fact, that it caught him off guard when Ron muttered, "Harry!"

Marcus focused back to reality just in time to hear Harry say, "What?"

Marcus looked around to notice that all eyes were on Harry. Harry, having almost dozed off, sat up straight.

"I was saying, my dear, that you were clearly born under the baleful influence of Saturn," said Professor Trelawney, a faint note of resentment in her voice at the fact that he had obviously not been hanging on to her words.

"Born under - what, sorry?" said Harry.

"Saturn, my dear, the planet Saturn!" said Professor Trelawney, sounding definitely irritated that he wasn't riveted by this news. "I was saying that Saturn was surely in a position of power in the heavens at the moment of your birth...Your dark hair...your mean stature...tragic losses so young in life...I think I am right in saying, my dear, that you were born in midwinter?"

"No," said Harry. "I was born in July."

Marcus merely facepalmed while Ron hastily turned his laugh into a hacking cough.

Half an hour later, each of them had been given a complicated circular chart, and was attempting to fill in the position of the planets at their moment of birth. It was dull work, requiring much consultation of timetables and calculation angles.

"I've got two Neptunes here," said Harry after a while, frowning down at his piece of parchment, "that can't be right, can it?"

"Aaaaah," said Ron, imitating Professor Trelawney's mystical whisper," when two Neptunes appear in the sky, it is a sure sign that a midget in glasses is being born, Harry..."

Seamus and Dean, who were working nearby, sniggered loudly, though not loudly enough to mask the excited squeals from Lavender Brown - "Oh Professor, look! I think I've got an unaspected planet! Oooh, which one's that, Professor?"

"It is Uranus, my dear," said Professor Trelawney, peering down at the chart.

"Can I have a look at Uranus too, Lavender?" said Ron.

Most unfortunately, Professor Trelawney heard him, and it was this, perhaps, that made her give them so much homework at the end of the class.

"A detailed analysis of the way the planetary movements in the coming month will affect you, with reference to your personal chart," she snapped, sounding much more like Professor McGonagall than her usual airy-fairy self. "I want it ready to hand in next Monday, and no excuses!"

"Miserable old bat," said Ron bitterly as they joined the crowds descending the staircases back to the Great Hall and dinner. "That'll take all weekend, that will..."

"Perhaps this will serve as a good reminder to keep such remarks to yourself, Ron," growled Marcus, who was quite angry for having to get stuck with an unneccesarily atrocious homework assignment over the weekend.

Ron gave him a death stare, but didn't do anything else, considering how right Marcus was.

"Lots of homework?" said Hermione brightly, catching up with them. "Professor Vector didn't give us any at all!"

"Well, bully for Professor Vector," said Ron moodily.

They reached the entrance hall, which was packed with people queing for dinner. They had just joined the end of the line, when a loud voice rang out behind them.

"Weasley! Hey, Weasley!"

Marcus, Harry, Ron, and Hermione turned. Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle were standing there, each looking thoroughly pleased about something.

"What?" said Ron shortly.

"Your dad's in the paper, Weasley!" said Malfoy, brandishing a copy of the Daily Prophet and speaking very loudly, so that everyone in the packed entrance hall could hear. "Listen to this!"

FURTHER MISTAKES AT THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC

It seems as though the Ministry of Magic's troubles are not yet at an end, writes Rita Skeeter, Special Correspondent. Recently under fire for its poor crowd control at the Quidditch World Cup, and still unable to account for the disappearance of one of its witches, the Ministry was plunged into fresh embarassment yesterday by the antics of Arnold Weasley, of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office."

Malfoy looked up.

"Imagine them not even getting his name right, Weasley. It's almost as though he's a complete nonentity, isn't it?" he crowed.

Everyone in the entrance hall was listening now. Malfoy straightened the paper with a flourish and read on:

Arnold Weasley, who was charged with possession of a flying car two years ago, was yesterday involved in a tussle with several Muggle law-keepers ("policeman") over a number of highly aggressive dustbins. Mr. Weasley appears to have rushed to the aid of "Mad-Eye" Moody, the aged ex-Auror who retired from the Ministry when no longer able to tell the difference between a handshake and attempted murder. Unsurprisingly, Mr. Weasley found, upon arrival at Mr. Moody's heavily guarded house, that Mr. Moody had once again raised a false alarm. Mr. Weasley was forced to modify several memories before he could escape from the policeman, but refused to answer Daily Prophet questions about why he had involved the Ministry in such an undignified and potentially embarrassing scene.

"And there's a picture, Weasley!" said Malfoy, flipping the paper over and holding it up. "A picture of your parents outside their house - if you can call it a house! Your mother could do with losing a bit of weight, couldn't she?"

Ron was shaking with fury. Everyone was staring at him.

"Get stuffed, Malfoy," said Harry.

"Yeah, come on, Ron," said Marcus, his bad mood worsening by the second. "We shouldn't be wasting our time with an idiot like him."

"Oh yeah, you were staying with them this summer, weren't you, boys?" sneered Malfoy. "So tell me, is his mother really that porky, or is it just the picture?"

"You know your mother, Malfoy?" said Harry - both he and Marcus had grabbed the back of Ron's robes to stop him from launching himself at Malfoy - "that expression she's got, like she's got dung under her nose?"

"Yeah, I was wondering that myself," said Marcus very loudly. "Has your mother always looked like that, or is it from having to constantly smell your bullshit?"

Malfoy's pale face went pink at this remark.

"Don't you dare insult my mother, Potter, Williams!"

"Keep your fat mouth shut, then," said the two boys at the same time, turning away.

BANG!

Several people screamed - Marcus felt something white-hot graze the side of his face. Having already summoned his wand just in case, he started to whip himself around to face Malfoy. He hadn't fully turned around before he heard a second loud BANG go off, and a roar that echoed through the entrance hall.

"OH NO YOU DON'T, LADDIE!"

Marcus turned to the source of the voice to find Professor Moody limping down the marble staircase. His wand was out and it was pointing right at a pure white ferret, which was shivering on the stone-flagged floor, exactly where Malfoy had been standing.

There was a terrified silence in the entrance hall. Nobody but Moody was moving a muscle. Moody turned to look at Marcus and Harry - at least, his normal eye was looking between the both of them; the other one was pointing into the back of his head.

"Did he get you two?" Moody growled. His voice was low and gravelly.

"No," said Harry. "Missed."

"LEAVE IT!" Moody shouted.

"Leave - what?" asked Marcus, caught off guard.

"Not you - him!" Moody growled, jerking his thumb over his shoulder at Crabbe, who had just frozen, about to pick up the white ferret. It seemed that Moody's rolling eye was magical and could see out of the back of his head.

Moody started to limp toward Crabbe, Goyle, and the ferret, which gave a terrified squeak and took off, streaking toward the dungeons.

"I don't think so!" roared Moody, pointing his wand at the ferret again - it flew ten feet into the air, fell with a smack to the floor, and then bounced upward once more.

"I don't like people who attack when their opponent's back's turned," growled Moody as the ferret bounced higher and higher, squealing in pain. "Stinking, cowardly, scummy thing to do..."

The ferret flew through the air, its legs and tail flailing helplessly.

"Never - do - that - again -" said Moody, speaking each word as the ferret hit the stone floor and bounced upward again.

"Professor Moody!" said a shocked voice.

Professor McGonagall was coming down the marble staircase with her arms full of books.

"Hello, Professor McGonagall," said Moody calmly, bouncing the ferret still higher.

"What - what are you doing?" said Professor McGonagall, her eyes following the bouncing ferret's progress through the air.

"Teaching," said Moody.

"Teach - Moody, is that a student?" shrieked Professor McGonagall, the books spilling out of her arms.

"Yep," said Moody.

"No!" cried Professor McGonagall, running down the stairs and pulling out her wand; a moment later, with a loud snapping noise, Draco Malfoy had reappeared, lying in a heap on the floor with his sleek blond hair all over his now brilliantly pink face. He got on his feet, wincing.

"Moody, we never use transfiguration as a punishment!" said Professor McGonagall weakly. "Surely Professor Dumbledore told you that?"

"He might've mentioned it, yeah," said Moody, scratching his chin unconcernedly, "but I thought a good sharp shock -"

"We give detentions, Moody! Or speak to the offender's Head of House!"

"I'll do that, then," said Moody, staring at Malfoy with great dislike.

Malfoy, whose pale eyes were still watering with pain and humiliation, looked malevolently up at Moody and muttered something in which the words "my father" were distinguishable.

"Oh yeah?" said Moody quietly, limping forward a few steps, the dull clunk of his wooden leg echoing around the hall. "Well, I know your father of old, boy...You tell him Moody's keeping a close eye on his son...you tell him that from me...Now, your Head of House'll be Snape, will it?"

"Yes," said Malfoy resentfully.

"Another old friend," growled Moody. "I've been looking forward to a chat with old Snape...Come on, you..."

And, as he seized Malfoy's upper arm, Professor Moody looked back at Marcus, both eyes fixed upon him, his natural eye with a dangerous narrowing, like it was him that instigated the whole mess, but Marcus knew that there was more to the teacher's crazy death stare than he knew at the moment.

After Professor Moody marched Malfoy off toward the dungeons, Professor McGonagall stared anxiously after them for a few moments, then waved her wand at her fallen books, causing them to soar up into the air and back into her arms.

"Don't talk to me," Ron said quietly to Marcus, Harry, and Hermione as they sat down at the Gryffindor table a few minutes later, surrounded by excited talk on all sides about what had just happened.

"Why not?" asked Hermione in surprise.

"Because I want to fix that in my memory forever," said Ron, his eyes closed and an uplifted expression on his face. "Draco Malfoy, the amazing bouncing ferret..."

Marcus, Harry, and Hermione all laughed, and Hermione began dolling beef casserole onto each of their plates.

"He could have really hurt Malfoy, though," she said. "It was good, really, that Professor McGonagall stopped it -"

"Hermione!" said Ron furiously, his eyes snapping open again, "you're ruining the best moment of my life!"

Hermione made an impatient noise and began to eat at top speed again.

"Are you seriously going to go to the library again?!" said Marcus.

"Got to," said Hermione thickly. "Loads to do."

"But you told us Professor Vector -"

"It's not schoolwork," she said. Within five minutes, she had cleared her plate and departed. No sooner had she gone than her seat was taken by Fred Weasley.

"Moody!" he said. "How cool is he?"

"Beyond cool," said George, sitting down opposite Fred.

"Supercool," said the twins' best friend, Lee Jordan, sliding into the seat beside George. "We had him this afternoon," he told Marcus, Harry, and Ron.

"What was it like?" said Harry eagerly.

Fred, George, and Lee exchanged looks full of meaning.

"Never had a lesson like it," said Fred.

"He knows, man," said Lee.

"Knows what?" said Ron, leaning forward.

"Knows what it's like to be out there doing it," said George impressively.

"Doing what?" said Harry.

"Fighting the Dark Arts," said Fred.

"He's seen it all," said George.

"'Mazing," said Lee.

Marcus dove into his bag for his schedule.

"We don't have him on our schedule until Thursday!" growled Marcus in sheer anger at his misfortune.


Later that evening, Marcus and Lorelei were waiting in the Room of Requirement for Cedric Diggory.

"You don't think Cedric doesn't know where the Room of Requirement is, do you?" said Lorelei.

"I gave him some pretty clear instructions on how to get here," said Marcus, stroking his chin in thought. "I doubt he got lost."

Just then, they heard a door being opened and the two of them turned to find Cedric walking in.

"There you are, Cedric!" said Marcus with a grin on his face. "We were just wondering where you were."

As Cedric was closing the door, he replied, "I got held up by some of my classmates wondering where I was heading off towards. I finally managed to tell them I was going to the library for casual reading."

"Huh, that's pretty clever," said Marcus.

"So, before we begin, can we see your Animagus form?" asked Lorelei excitedly.

"Oh, right, my Animagus form," said Cedric with an sheepish look on his face. However, before their eyes, he shifted into a wolf.

It wasn't just any wolf, either. It was a grey wolf that had the most beautiful coat of fur Marcus had ever seen, with eyes that seemed to be quite vicious.

He shifted back rather quickly and said, "Yeah, so I actually started to do my research on Animagi around seven years old. When I got to Hogwarts, I started implementing what I learned about being an Animgus. I only succeeded last year, truth be told, but I happen to sneak off and go around Hogwarts whenever I get the chance, just to get some quality time to myself. So, now that I've shown you my Animagus form, let me see yours."

"Fair enough," said Lorelei and the two of shifted into their Animagus forms; Marcus took the form of the barbary lion, Leo, while Lorelei took the form of her phoenix, Solaris.

They were in their Animagus forms for only a few seconds and, when they shifted back, Cedric said, "Wow, you guys have such impressive forms!"

"Yours is, by no means, ordinary, Cedric," said Lorelei. "Do you have a name for your form?"

"Hmm, I've never thought about it," said Cedric, who rubbed his chin in thought until he suddenly said, "I think I'll name my form Orion, after the hunter."

"That's quite an apt name, Cedric," said Lorelei with a smile.

"Yes, speaking of which, shall we get training?" asked Marcus.

"Oh, yes, of course," said Cedric. "I thought we'd try our hands on magic first."

"That's right, we were going to learn some new magic together," said Lorelei. "What did you have in mind?"

"Well, besides learning the Duplication Spell together, I thought I would try to help you guys learn your affinities," Cedric stated.

"Huh?" said Marcus and Lorelei at the same time.

"Your affinities," Cedric repeated. "Here, I'll explain."

Cedric then got out his wand with his right hand and said, "A witch or wizard's affinity is any given person's best magical aspect. Now, each witch or wizard's affinity is almost always different and unique from everyone elses. It can be a certain spell, or magical subject such as Transfiguration, or it can even be an element of the planet. For example -"

Cedric stuck his wand straight above him and, without saying anything, water started to swirl downwards and around him, wrapping around him like a cascading spring.

"- my affinity is the element of water," Cedric finished.

He disappated the water and Lorelei said, "Cedric, that's so cool!"

"Yeah, it is!" said Marcus, extremely impressed. "How do we go about learning ours?!"

"The first thing that must be done is clearing your mind," said Cedric. "Think nothing else, only looking deep within yourself. Find yourself and everything that you stand for. When you figure this out, you're ready to discover your affinity. Now, this took me years to accomplish and I'm not expecting either of you to successfully get it on the first try.

"Well, let's not just sit here and talk about it!" said Marcus. "Let's get started!"

"Right," said Cedric with a smile. "Let's begin!"

And this concludes this chapter of HP: The Path of Trials! Please feel free to leave a review on this story, as this helps me refine my skills as a writer! Or, if you want to ask me any questions, please don't hesitate to send me a PM and, I promise, I will answer your questions to the best of my abilities! Until then, keep your eyes peeled for the next exciting chapter of HP: The Path of Trials!