Frozen Souls:
There is a condition known as the Frozen Soul that occasionally overtakes wizards and witches between the ages of fourteen and eighteen, slightly more common among males. Theories abound as to its origin, but one fact is certain: only those who have already achieved a certain emotional distance ever develop it. The first manifestation is always at night. A sense of extreme cold sweeps over the person's body and a blue-green aura seeps out of their skin. A minor effort of concentration is all that is necessary to regain control of the aura and lessen the cold to bearable levels.
After their first manifestation, Frozen Souls have been seen to display impressive magical abilities both with and without wands. The only one absolutely confirmed is further manifestations of their auras, which cause pain to any but other Frozen Souls whose skin comes in contact with the aura.
Little else is known about this condition by those who are not Frozen Souls, as these people tend to cut themselves off socially from all other humans save each other. Rumors speculate that the Frozen Souls can instantly recognize each other as such, and at the very least they understand each other quite well.
Uncommon Conditions of Magical Persons
"Good morning." It wasn't all that good, actually, thanks to this godforsaken climate and the time difference, but Alex always stuck to the formalities.
Apparently, Luna Lovegood didn't. "It isn't really all that good, is it? The weather is horrible, and you look like you had trouble sleeping. To top that, you seem to me to be the kind of person who doesn't ever find mornings good."
Alex stared at her. "Quite." He plopped down in a chair across from her window seat in the near-empty Ravenclaw common room. "I don't find mornings good, precisely, but they're not particularly bad, either. That's how I see most things. Sometimes I feel like I'm just going through the motions of living, but then…" He looked closer at her. "You didn't sleep well either."
"No. I saw something that concerned me. I know what it was, but not much about it. I'm trying to see if there's anything more about it in books." To emphasize her point, she picked up the copy of Uncommon Conditions.
"Maybe I could help? I know quite a bit about some of the things in that book that it doesn't describe very well. Which condition were you looking at?" Alex had a pretty fair guess…if she'd been looking out the right window at the right time, she could have seen Potter's manifestation, but it wouldn't do to let her know that he knew.
"Know much about the Frozen Soul beyond what's in the books?" There it was. The question he'd expected her to ask, and there it was.
In answer he raised his right hand, and allowed his aura to manifest around the hand only. Then he drew it back in and observed her reaction. She stared at him, only a slight widening of the eyes and the fact that she was paying absolutely no attention to the book anymore betraying her shock. Her mouth opened as if to ask a question, but he shook his head, stood up again, and went down to breakfast.
As he was about to walk into the Entrance Hall on his way to the Great Hall, he heard voices ahead. Curious, he stopped in the little side doorway. Malfoy and Potter were staring each other down, each with two companions behind them. Malfoy had his two gorillas cracking their knuckles, and behind Potter, hands on their wands, were a red-headed boy and a bushy-haired girl. Malfoy spoke first. "Well, Potter, how have you been? Any little…tragedies you might want to talk about? Perhaps you lost your…pet?"
Obviously, this enraged Potter for some reason, as his two sidekicks were holding him back from physically injuring Malfoy. Alex analyzed the situation quickly. He was already on Malfoy's bad side, he should get on Potter's good side if Potter was another Frozen Soul, and it was not a good idea for Potter to accidentally manifest so publicly. So Alex sighed, took out his wand, pointed it at Malfoy, and muttered a little incantation under his breath. Malfoy immediately dropped to his knees and started bowing to Potter, forehead hitting the ground lightly each time. The image was spoiled by the solid stream of profanity coming from his mouth.
Alex smiled lightly and walked up. "Morning, Potter. Malfoy, are you all right? I mean, I could understand you being taken by Potter's charm and good looks if you swing that way, but somehow you don't seem the type. Well, I've misjudged people before." The red-head gave a snort of laughter just as a greasy-haired professor walked up and glared at the lot of them.
"Mr. Potter, what have you done to Mr. Malfoy? Ten points from…" Alex interrupted him. "Sir, Mr. Potter didn't do anything to Mr. Malfoy. Mr. Potter does not have his wand out, and did not when I observed Mr. Malfoy begin this behavior. I also observed no telltale signs of a curse hitting Mr. Malfoy. The logical conclusion is that either Mr. Malfoy is doing this of his free will, or he was cursed before he entered this room."
The Professor switched the glare from Potter to Alex, who stared back unblinkingly. Then he turned to Malfoy and muttered, "Finite Incantem." The curse didn't lift, of course. Alex had put much too much power behind that for this. The Professor turned back to him. "Mr. Smith, since you seem so observant, what do you believe to have caused this behavior?"
"I would venture to guess at an Irrational Compulsion Charm, sir. May I?" Without waiting for an answer, he drew his own wand and pointed it at Malfoy, muttering "Finite Compulsio." He glanced up at the Professor, who nodded, and stalked off without a word. Malfoy and his goons glared at Alex, Potter, and Potter's sidekicks, and turned to leave. Alex grinned, and called after him, "Malfoy!"
Malfoy turned to glare at him again. "What is it, Smith?"
Alex's grin grew wider and slyer. "I just saved you from getting your neck snapped by Potter. I may have to call in that life-debt some day." Four jaws dropped. Potter was the first to recover, turning it into a smirk. The sidekicks just stared. Malfoy glared…but nodded. Potter's jaw dropped again. Then Malfoy was gone. Alex winked at the trio, then sauntered off, saying, "Thanks, Potter."
It had turned out to be a better morning than usual.