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Jacin

Jacin trudged through the corridors of the school, his backpack hanging heavily off one shoulder. A dark scowl was written across his face and his steps were more like stomps. The reason? Professor Park.

Jacin's hands clenched into angry fists at the thought of the Astronomy teacher's smug smile as he assigned Jacin weekend detention for talking in the library! And he hadn't even been talking about anything bad, just giving Kai a hand with his Potions homework! It definitely didn't warrant a weekend spent cleaning the trophy room without magic. Jacin could still hear Professor Park's smug voice: "Interrupting others' study is horribly inconsiderate of you Mr Clay. A weekend detention is the perfect punishment for such rudeness."

Ugh, Jacin hated that man.

It was almost enough to make him go to Thorne and have him cook up some weird revenge prank. Almost.

"Jacin!"

Jacin had to fight a smile at Winter's familiar tinkling voice. He heard the sound of skipping feet and then she was walking beside him, smiling up at him with ruby red lips.

"How was your day?" Winter asked him, "I quite enjoyed mine. We're starting a new project in Care of Magical Creatures. Would you like to hear about it?"

"We both know you're going to tell me whether I care or not." Jacin replied with a roll of his eyes. Winter playfully smacked him on the arm.

"We get to raise a creature of our choice! I've picked a crup. Oh Jacin, they're so cute when they're puppies! I've named him Ryu."

"Just try to keep the gushing to a minimum Trouble." Jacin grinned at her.

"I make no promises." Winter replied with a grin of her own.

Jacin ruffled her hair, prompting a squeal from her and she lightly swatted his hand away, giggling.

Then Jacin's scowl returned.

"I'm just glad you didn't pick one of the deadly creatures. I swear Jael's trying to get us all killed."

"There were a few more dangerous creatures." Winter admitted. "There was a hippogriff there, and a fire drake as well and a magically animated statue of a Hungarian Horntail that actually breathed fire. But Professor Jael made sure only responsible, capable students could handle them, so there's no reason to worry." She added with a smile.

That fact that Jael had handpicked the students only made Jacin worry more. Jael usually gave dangerous jobs to his "charity cases", kids who he plucked out of nowhere and invited to attend the school, like Wolf. Jacin had told him that it was so the students would be indebted to him. It hadn't necessarily been a lie, that was one of Jacin's theories. But he had others too, most of them based on how all of the kids were big and bulky with a talent for curses.

"Jacin? Are you listening?"

Jacin shook all thoughts of Jael out of his head and turned his attention to Winter.

"I'm sorry what?"

Winter pouted. "I was saying that we should go do something fun since it's Friday!"

Winter did this every week, dragging Jacin into some game or another to celebrate the weekend. Normally, Jacin would go with her, if only to make sure she was safe, but this time he shook his head.

"Sorry Trouble. I arranged to meet with someone this afternoon."

"You're making a new friend?" Winter cried with delight.

"He's just helping me with something Winter.

"And then you'll become friends!"

Jacin rolled his eyes.

"If it makes you happy to think that go ahead."

Winter clapped her hands in delight.

"Can I meet him? I've got to make sure he won't steal my spot as your best friend, after all." She jokingly asks Jacin.

"I'm pretty sure you have nothing to worry about on that front." He replies with a smirk.

"That's not an answer. Come on Jacin, please can I come? Please?"

Winter skipped in front of and stood on her tiptoes so that Jacin had no choice but to look into her beautiful soft eyes, which had become wide and begging.

Jacin groaned and massaged his forehead. "Alright, you can come."

Winter squealed with delight and threw her arms around him. Thank Merlin she couldn't see the blush building on his cheeks.

Jacin waited impatiently for Winter outside the entrance to the Silver dorms. He'd already changed into his casual clothes and was now waiting on Winter to do the same They were going to be late at this rate! Then again, Jacin's "new friend" probably wouldn't mind that much.

Jacin glanced at his watch. If Winter wasn't ready within five minutes, he was going to leave without her. She'd be ticked off, that's for sure, but it was her own fault for taking so long!

Three minutes later, Winter finally showed up wearing a dark blue day-dress with a matching bow in her hair and shiny purple shoes.

Jacin scowled at her attire, half-tempted to send her back into the dorm to pick out a more practical outfit, but they'd wasted enough time already.

Jacin speed-walked through the school and out onto the grounds, Winter skipping at his side. As they started to approach the Black Woods, Jacin waited for Winter to worry about ruining her pretty dress, but her only reaction was to switch from skipping to running.

"Why are we meeting your friend in the Black Woods?" Winter asked curiously as they passed through the trees.

"We're only meeting in the nicer part near the edge. The obstacles like the trees and rocks and stuff make practicing more challenging."

"Practicing?"

Before Jacin could reply, the tell-tale sounds of snapping twigs and crunching leaves rang through the air. Instinctively, Jacin put himself in front of Winter, protecting her from any danger that might be coming. But when the culprit, a tall boy with striking green eyes, came into view, Jacin let himself relax.

"Hello Wolf."

"Hey Jacin."

Wolf came to a stop a few feet away from Jacin and nodded to a space just above his shoulder. "You've brought a friend."

Winter came out from behind Jacin and smiled widely at Wolf.

"Hello! I'm Winter!" She chirped waving cheerfully. "You are in my Care of Magical Creatures class aren't you? Though I'm afraid I can't recall whether wolves are in the curriculum."

Wolf raised an eyebrow at this but said nothing.

"So," Wolf begins, addressing Jacin. "ready to practice?"

"What do you practice?" Winter demanded.

"Jacin asked me to help him out with offensive and defensive spells." Wolf replied, "We usually just have a duel or something."

Winter shot a suspicious look at Jacin, who pretended not to notice.

Wolf and Jacin stood opposite each other and bowed. Then they walked several paces away from each other and raised their wands.

"We start casting on the count of three." Wolf stated. Jacin nodded his consent.

"1… 2… 3!"

Jacin wasted no time in casting the first spell.

"Expelliarmus!"

A scarlet bolt of energy erupted from Jacin's wand, heading straight for Wolf. He dodged the spell and pointed his own wand at Jacin.

"Stupefy!"

Jacin hastily cast protego in the face of the stunning spell. He scowled as he felt the protective field strain under the impact. He'd have to work on that one.

"Petrificus totalus!" Jacin shouted. The resulting flash dissipated harmlessly on a protego spell Wolf had cast for himself.

"Depulso!"

Jacin couldn't dodge the charm in time and it hit him squarely in the stomach. He felt himself go flying backwards and eventually crashed into a tree trunk.

"Jacin!" Winter cried and rushed over to him. Wolf stayed where he was but shot Jacin a guilty look.

With a pained groan, Jacin pushed himself back up onto his feet, waving away Winter when she tried to help him stand.

He raised his wand and opened his mouth, ready to cast another spell, but Wolf was already pocketing his wand.

"I think we should stop there for today. We don't want to deal with any more injuries."

Jacin narrowed his eyes, tempted to just continue the duel anyway. This practice was important, and besides, it's not like his opponent in a real fight would let him walk away just because he'd been hurt. Wolf stared back at him, his expression firm.

Eventually, Jacin sighed and sat himself heavily at the foot of the tree he'd crashed into.

Wolf strode over to him and tugged a small vial filled with green liquid out of his pocket. He handed it to Jacin, who removed the stopper and gave it a quick sniff. A flurry of scents greeted him, most of which made him want to gag. Yep, that seemed about right.

Jacin drowned the liquid in a single gulp. This time, he couldn't suppress a gag. Wiggenweld potions tasted awful! Sure, it had mint and Honeywater in it, but it also had sloth brain mucus and billywig sting slime, as well as other disgusting things. Jacin found it was best not to think about them, both when brewing and when drinking.

The effects were almost instantaneous. The aches from the bruises Jacin had gotten from Wolf's jinx faded to nothing, probably along with the bruises themselves. Energy surged through his limbs and he got up from the tree feeling only slightly stiff.

Wolf cocked his head to one side. "I'll never understand how you can brew that stuff correctly. There are so many complicated steps involved!"

Jacin shrugged and dusted of his pants. "Just have a flair for it I guess."

It took a lot of convincing to keep Winter from dragging Jacin to the healing centre, and even more convincing to keep her from bringing his dinner to him in the Regolith dormitories.

It was another thirty minutes before they finally started making their way back to the main building. Wolf had already excused himself, so it was just Jacin and Winter. Jacin honestly had no idea if Wolf had left because the long arguments between Jacin and Winter made him uncomfortable, or if he was just hungry. Seriously, how did that guy stay so fit? He ate more than a dragon!

"I liked your Wolf-friend." Winter chirped happily.

Jacin rolled his eyes. "Please. You like everybody."

"I don't like Professor Park."

"I meant you like everybody with a heart."

Jacin expected Winter to giggle, but instead she gazed down at her feet, all traces of her smile gone.

"You're right." She eventually said after a long silence. "He has no heart."

Jacin scowled. Sometimes he doubted Professor Park was even human. The man had about as much compassion as a dementor. Which is why it always put Jacin on edge whenever he smiled or laughed, especially when the smile or laughter was directed at Winter. Professor Park was way too interested in her for Jacin's liking.

Winter shook her head vigorously, as if trying to dislodge her sudden sombreness. She called back her smile (though Jacin couldn't help but notice that it looked a little forced) and asked him, "Why were you practicing duelling with your Wolf-friend anyway?"

"Just to practice for the duelling lessons in DADA. I didn't do very well on them last year."

It was a weak lie, and Jacin knew Winter would see right through it, especially since she stole his report card last year and read all his grades, so she knew he'd gotten an Outstanding in DADA. Really, Jacin was practicing duelling so he could be prepared. Not to defend himself against the darker things in the world. No, he was practicing so he could defend Winter.

A/N: So sorry this was late!

Finally, finally, we've seen through all the eyes of the main eight! Now that all the introductions have happened, let's get to the actual plot of the story! (You have no idea how excited I am for that).

Let's pool together what we now know: Professor Park's evil, Professor Erland looks not at all like himself for some reason, Thorne's a master prankster, Jacin's a master insulter and Winter's still a precious, crazy little flower who has a pet called Ryu.

Please review!