'Lacking the quality or quantity required; insufficient for a purpose' - Inadequate

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Elias sat in the great hall, finding himself next to Lily and Severus again. After a disaster in charms and an alright time in Potions Elias had insisted on trying to read through his charms books again. "Oh, it was only your first lesson Elias, you'll be fine," Lily assured.

Elias sighed, closing his second book, "The only reason I got Hufflepuff 5 points in potions was that Remus pointed out that we needed to get 6 snake fangs and not 5 and he was too nervous to correct Professor Slughorn himself."

Severus grumbled too, "Well, at least you didn't have to sit next to Potter and Black, they're both idiots." Severus had sat next to Peter, the only other available space, who was alongside James and Sirius. Elias had quite liked sitting next to Remus though, they were both too shy for their own good but had started to talk to each other without mumbling.

Lily shook her head at the two but had a small smile on her face. Elias found himself chuckling when he realised that he had thought learning magic would be easy. Marlene, once again appearing out of nowhere, sat next to Lily. "Well Transfiguration was interesting, though Lily was the top of the class," Marlene announced, embarrassing Lily who looked down with a smile.

Elias laughed at the two while Severus rolled his eyes. "Well, I'll just have to see for myself. We have flying next, Lily." Lily, however, looked less than thrilled. In fact, she had a bit of a sour face the whole time they walked to the courtyard and tried to convince him how dangerous it was. She had read a few books on Quidditch, a flying ball game, and had read some of the injuries that occurred from it.

Elias would be lying if he said he wasn't a little worried too but he tried to keep in mind that magic was actually something they could use for healing injuries. And it was rare for someone to die from them. And it wasn't like they were playing Quidditch, they were probably just learning to mount the broom.

As they both walked across the grass, following the direction of others, Elias could see the actual Quidditch pitch from where he was. Large towers in the different house colours stood out the most along with a plain grey and black tower and large hoops.

It was jarring how small he felt compared to them.

The Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs stood in lines, one person next to each broomstick per Professor Tonitrus's command. Everyone was brimming with excitement or nervousness and Elias wasn't able to identify what he felt.

"The first step is calling your broom using the simple command 'up', one I'm sure even the most idiotic of you can say."

Lily rolled her eyes as Elias had to stifle his laughter, almost laughing along with him. Marlene did laugh along with a few others causing Professor Tonitrus to huff a quiet at them and to start.

"Up. Up... Up!"

The chaotic shouts from the students all followed and Elias was really hoping that this wouldn't happen every time they had to get on a broom.

Still, much to his surprise, his broom shot up.

"Well done Mr Lowell. At least we have five competent students this year."

Elias smiled, feeling a little giddy before looking around to see who else have succeeded. James and Sirius had by the looks of it although they were both picking on Remus and the small boy Elias remembered as Peter.

Other than that, was Matthew, who was looking bashfully at Derek and his brother as they showered him with praises and questions for help, almost making Elias laugh. They seemed to be quite close already.

The last girl was a dark-skinned girl who had wavy shoulder-length hair. A distant thought occurred, if happiness had a name, it would be her. She was smiling widely, directing Marlene although Marlene pouted and rolled her eyes causing the girl to laugh.

"Hey, Elias!" Lily called out from next to Marlene. Elias blinked, before smiling and walking over.

"Hey, you need any help?" Elias offered seeing Lily's broom still on the floor. Before she could answer though, the girl spoke.

"Oh, please. If we needed a boy for help, we would've asked."

Elias stood stunned for a moment, wondering if he had done wrong.

"Dorcas!"

"You can't just say that!"

Much to their surprise Dorcas just blinked before laughing, "Sorry. I didn't mean to come off so aggressive. I'm used to having 3 brothers who are all Quidditch players."

Elias sighed lightly in relief and laughed it off," don't worry, It's fine. I didn't mean to come off as quarrelsome."

Lily and Marlene just looked at each other, thankful that they didn't have to split up into a fight on the first day.

Loud laughter bubbled through the air and the class, Professor Tonitrus included, faced it. Hovering a few meters above the ground were James Potter and Sirius Black, each with a matching pair of grins.

Below them were Remus and Peter, both looking equally nervous as they looked up. However even Remus was smiling up at them.

Lily and Marlene huffed from beside Elias, catching his attention. "Idiots, they're going to hurt themselves," Lily sighed, and Elias cringed a little when he realised how high they were.

Unfortunately, though, the students were distracted from the task, which gained Professor Tonitrus' scrutiny. "Me Potter! Mr Black! Get down this instant. You're only allowed to hover just above the ground."

Her shouting seemed to spook James as his broom jerked to the left and then rolled over, hanging James upside down. The students reacted by stepping away, not wanting to be flattened.

Sirius tried to get closer and hold James up but struggled with holding his own broom up.

"Oh for Merlin-"

Before Professor Tonitrus could finish getting out her wand, a broom flashed before her.

Elias sped towards James and held out his arm, laying his torso over his broom and getting a hold of James' robe. He went down quickly, still in control to slow down slightly before dropping to the floor.

"Elias!"

Elias looked up to see Lily, Marlene, Dorcas and the rest of the class looking towards him in a bit of shock.

Elias let out a breath, "his hand was slipping."

James was sprawled out on the floor laughing as Sirius, Remus and Peter swarmed him. Professor Tonitrus shook her head, "Very well, 5 points to Hufflepuff. But next time," she turned to the two boys, "you two might want to actually listen to me."

The two boys looked sheepish as they smiled and nodded, but Elias couldn't help but get the impression that they'd not follow her advice.

Lily sighed as she finished reprimanding Elias for his reckless behaviour. Dorcas laughed behind them with Marlene.

"Okay, now that we're done can we get lunch now?" Elias asked, feeling a weakness spread through his body from nowhere. Lily rolled her eyes, before smiling and nodding.

However just as they were about to enter the Great Hall, a small black cat ran toward them. Elias smiled and started to kneel down, reaching for a handout.

But when Raven got closer, the weakness in his joints and muscles grew tenfold and the world tilted slightly. When she was finally close enough to touch the world spun and changed. He was mildly aware of a resounding thud and a few gasps but they disappeared with the old castle.