A blue light flashed from inside the attic room atop the house in 7 Ulaf drive, in Hogsmeade's outskirts. A bird standing on the windowsill flapped its wings annoyed before flying away while others at the garden trees chipped happily at the sun rising beyond the mountains in a glorious blue sky.
Inside the room Claudia slept in the bed hands by her side lying on her left flank, sheets thrown about the lower end of the bed and floor and beads of sweat running down her forehead.
Felix sat on his chair by his desk, notes and notepads scattered on it and a stack of wand boxes on the far left side, each wand damaged, bent or broken.
He held his wand with his left hand and a quill with the right hand.
Emerick's broken wand and Uriel's wand with its core cut open stood in one of the shelves above the desk.
Felix turned his attention from the parchment to one of the broken wands he had previously shielded and preparing a few milligrams of Rhodium from another set of boxes on the right side of the desk he applied them in liquid form on the two broken ends before whirling his wand making the two ends close up.
Several spell incantations later he tapped his wand on the superconductive material between the two broken ends.
The wand erupted in a silent explosion within the confines of the shield charm.
"Nope, Maple after ten tries I am certain does not like rhodium, but prefers tantalum mixed with ruthenium in three to one ratio. Exceptions can be made for dragon string cores…" he wrote down in his notes. "Olivander should be interested to know that. That not all wand woods and cores like the same superconductive materials. He indicated his doubts over cores playing a part in the re-transfiguration process, but how could they not when cores form the essential part of the quasi-sentience charm of a wand?"
A few moments later another wand exploded, this time with more force, shrapnel breaking through the shield charm.
"NEVER try to fuse yew based wands with coper based hafnium alloys, causes catastrophic damage to the wand."
After an hour more of testing and experimenting he picked up Emerick's wand examining it as he had done the previous days of this summer break.
He applied a few grams of liquid zinc on it and proceeded with the re-transfiguration process. The wand glowed gold, then brown before settling and fusing with the liquid zinc.
"Now for the tricky part….Uriel's wand", he muttered to himself setting aside the mended wand.
Hearing Claudia stir and groan in her sleep he got up and lay next to her, putting his hands around her shoulders in a gentle embrace.
"You're not asleep?" She asked him without opening her eyes, her body instinctively searching out of his warmth.
"Woke up a couple of hours ago and couldn't get back to sleep, so I got up and did some stuff", he whispered back. "You okay?"
"Yeah,….just a bad dream…" she snuzzled up to him wrapping her hands around his broadened shoulders.
"I'm here go back to sleep", he caressed her hair giving her cheek a kiss as he got himself under the duvet.
Her scent and rhythmic, steady breathing along with the birds' chirping outside lullabied him into a half-sleep snooze losing track of time.
A knock of the door woke him. "Breakfast's ready!"
Claudia chuckled, disentangling herself. "At least she knocks now."
"Yeah, that illusion spell worked nicely, me thinks", Felix stretched his hands and torso.
"How does the trace not work on your wand? You are still considered a minor and the new Ministry is up and running. They should be able to detect you", she asked getting out of the duvet and out of bed.
"Should and do are two entirely different things. It's me, I found a way to nullify it some and hide it within the general 'ambience' of Hogsmeade's magical background."
"Of course you did, because getting an article published at age seventeen and becoming Head boy aren't enough…" she teased him heading for the en-suite bathroom.
"Head boy…can you believe it?" Felix looked disbelievingly at the shinning badge on the nightstand.
"Uhm…yes? You're by far the school's best student."
"Not what I meant…why would she pick me?"
"Why wouldn't she? You're the school's best student."
"I…I feel broken."
"We all do, we've been through hell and back. You most of all but we've all been through hell and you're still the school's best student, you embody everything the school stands for."
"Maybe…let's go eat breakfast, then I want to go swimming."
"Oh, yeah I forgot about that. You passed the Ministry's apparition test a year earlier than everyone else, and it's your cousins you want to visit, not swim", she teased him, getting in the shower.
"I do, is that a bad thing?" Felix recoiled snapping his head at her.
"No, of course not", she replied calmly.
"Sorry…" he sighed. "Still having the same nightmare?"
"Yeah, time heals I hope", she opened the faucets.
"Yeah…" Felix got dressed before leaving the room, smells of apple juice and pancakes guiding him to the kitchen downstairs.
Three weeks of carefree time later they were at King's cross, for their last trip back to Hogwarts. As they approached the barrier between platforms nine and ten Hope stole fleeting glances at him and the speed at which she thought he was leading them right straight into a red brick wall when much to her amazement they went right through it.
"I was sure we'd crash in on the wall!" She exclaimed catching her breath and looking around at platform nine and three quarters.
Felix chuckled. "Everyone does believe that on their first try."
Not a moment later his voice was drowned in a sea of cheers and clasping as parents and students present in the platform approached to shake his hand.
"My son the war hero", Hope beamed whispering making him blush.
"With Cillian and Azrail dead and the war over the Headmistress changed the Christmas rule again, so I guess I'll see you again at summer", hope hugged him.
Felix gave a sharp snort. "Our house is in Hogsmeade, your boyfriend is my Professor and I know all the secret passages from and to Hogsmeade from Hogwarts. Who are you being cute with, mum?"
"Look at you all grown up and talking smack to your mother. I should have spanked you when I had the chance", they laughed.
With a last look outside he boarded the train searching for his friends.
"Yo, mate", Emerick shook his hand before giving him a hug, followed by Uriel and Ethel.
"Ah, Arianna, good. Congratulations on Head Girl, we need to go fetch the Prefects", Felix nodded at the wagon door.
"Congratulations to you too!" She beamed giving Uriel a kiss before following him to the other wagons to find and give Prefects their instructions.
Fifteen minutes later they returned to their Compartment in the Prefects' wagon taking their seats next to their friends. Felix's hand entwining with Claudia's.
"How is everyone?" He asked looking at them as the train left London, heading up north. "I mended your wands", he gave Emerick and Uriel their wands back.
Uriel took hold of it feeling a sudden jolt of warm energy. "Maple with phoenix feather core…and a weird silvery lining in the middle, feels like the same old wand yet new, unique and accepting of me", his injured hand still hadn't gained full mobility with large scars running down its side.
"It is like its Wizard, unique in all the right ways", Ariana told him squeezing his hands. Uriel smiled at her.
"Cool, thanks", Emerick pocketed his wand with an apathetic voice.
Ethel also appeared to be less than her usual energetic self, sprawled across the soft leather seat looking outside the window.
"It'll be nice to be back in Hogwarts, I missed it", Felix tried to make small talk.
"It's a minor miracle I'm even allowed to return for my seventh year", Ethel said trying to joke, yet obviously not in a mood for jokes.
"Parents?" Ariana asked her.
"Yeah…they blamed the wrong people and tried to fault me for fighting, as if there was half a chance in hell I'd abandon my friends and my House. So, you know. I gave them a well rounded piece of my mind."
"Are they alive?" Claudia snorted.
"Not even as a joke!" Ethel's face changed in an instant.
"No, I didn't…I'm sorry, I-I just meant…I'm sorry", Claudia stuttered.
"No, I'm sorry, it's just that after last summer…no, I know how you meant it."
The awkward silence was broken only a few times more during the eight hours sleep before arriving in Hogwarts' train platform.
They disembarked under a clear starry night sky, heading over to the Thestral-ridden carriages.
"It must be strange for the Thestrals to have every student able to see them. Is it that Thestrals can be seen by those who have witnessed death, or by those who have accepted it?" Emerick asked no one entering the carriage without waiting for a reply.
Claudia tried to speak but Felix cut her off with a shake of his head, boarding the carriage hand in hand.
After the short trip up the hill to the castle's gates they made their way to the Great Hall, taking their seats on their respective House table's benches.
Felix saw Professor Hudson bring in the first years for the Sorting Ceremony and cheered each eleven year old who got sorted into Hufflepuff.
After the Sorting Hat's song came the Headmistress' start-of-year speech as she stood behind the owl lectern in front of the four Houses' tables and to the center of the Professors' one.
Everyone went quiet, whispers and chatter hushing up.
"Good evening everyone and welcome to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for another year of learning, and with the war final over we can all concentrate on doing exactly that. Heal and learn. Before we start on our feast I would like us all to welcome our new Potion's Master, Ursula Slimneck who will be taking over Potions Lessons from our…departed Professor Mrs. Marvey", Professor Horsewood waited for the clasping and the cheering to die down before continuing. "Furthermore, as the war is behind us Christmas will be spent in Hogwarts and Quidditch games are back to one per House, so three overall, more studying less entrainment. Now, without further delay let us eat and be merry", she finished drawing a round of applause and cheers as plates of food and beverages filled the tables.
Felix noticed how the level of excitement decreased the older a student was. The war was over, but its effects were still very much pervasive amongst those who had been involved in it.
He ate some but without much appetite before leaving along with the others for their House dorms.
The first day of classes went by fast yet boringly slow at the same time, for Felix it was great to be back in Hogwarts, the only place he really felt at home and amazing to be with his friends, but classes did not sway his interest anymore as much as they used to and he had this peculiar feeling he could not yet put into words.
He had to stop himself from correcting Professor Slimneck when she taught them about the Luck potion, Felix Felicis, and during care of magical creatures he was even more pressed to not correct Professor Nightingale during her class of teaching them about caring for Manticores and other extremely dangerous and untamable creatures.
Felix sighed thinking it was going to be a long year from an academic perspective as he wrote down in his notepad.
Later at night he returned to the Hufflepuff and nodded to Ethel talking to some of her girl friends heading straight for the stairs to the dorm rooms and his Head Boy room.
Ethel caught up to him at the base of the stairs looking concerned.
"Hey, what's up?" He asked her in a hushed tone.
"Did you hear about Emerick?" She asked back in a similar tone.
"No, I've been in the library studying and out in the grounds with Claudia, what happened?"
"He got a week's detention for decking a third year boy from Gryffindor."
"What did the third year tell him? I mean something must have happened, Emerick isn't the type to go about punching people for no reason", Felix could feel his protective side urging him into action.
"Guy was bragging to his friends about how he was basically a hero because he killed god knows how many of Cillian's soldiers during the viaduct battle last summer", Ethel rolled her eyes at the kid's blatant lies.
"Third years were all in the last carriage along with first and second years…and he'd have been a second year…"
"Yeah, can't see him killing anyone with Lumos, wingardium leviosa and flipendo either, so Emerick called him out and the guy called him a cripple and a coward. So, you know Emerick punched a tooth out of him."
"Good, you up for some payback mischief?" He saw her give him that known wide, wicked grin of hers as a reply.
"Always, what do you have in mind?"
"Make that guy regret fucking with my friend…creatively and without harming him."
"This is either gonna get us expelled or it'll be fun…or both!"
"Expelled? We didn't get expelled six years now with Azrail and the Governors on our asses. You can just relax and enjoy the ride, because sure as hell he ain't gonna. Messing with my friends, pfff", Felix left for the dorms.
Ethel had to laugh, despite how she felt in general.