The magic near the end of this chapter goes in an interesting way that I personally haven't seen before. Rai also shows just how well he's taking this change in scenery from the last world. For now.

Enjoy!

~Silverleone

Akumu and I had just finished lunch and were walking to Charms class when Professor Umbridge approached us.

"Hem hem."

"Yes Professor?" I asked, bouncing on the balls of my feet a little. She didn't find my immaturity amusing.

"Mr. Taiki, might I ask you a question?"

"Sure." I had nothing to hide.

"Might I ask what you were doing out after curfew last night?" I blinked.

'How in Thor did she notice me? Great, I sound like Hiccup.'

"Oh, I couldn't sleep, and needed to get some energy out." There was no reason to lie, she had caught me red handed.

"Well, might I ask that you do that before curfew, from now on?" I nodded, mentally slapping myself for getting caught.

"Of course Professor, my apologies." We swapped fake smiles and went on our ways. Akumu leaned over to me.

"You snuck out and got caught?!"

"I never noticed her. She must have not been wearing her pink garb." Akumu rolled her eyes as I opened the door to Charms. "Either that or these people have surveillance spells." We glanced at each other with silent groans. No more sneaking out at night. We sat down and waited for class to start as the rest of the students. I gently twisted my wand in my fingers, trying to think of ways to get my revenge on Umbridge without getting caught. I didn't want to drag the Weasleys into this. Even if it would be fun, I didn't want them getting expelled. Akumu and I were on our own. Soon the classroom was filled, and Professor Flitwick started, standing on a particularly unstable stack of books.

"Alright class, shall we get started?" The class chorused a 'yes Professor' and he swung his arms joyfully. "Splendid! So, the first charm of the day is going to be Engorgio! It is simply to grow smaller objects and make them bigger!" I heard a couple of the male students snort and I nearly chucked a book at one. I leaned over to Akumu.

"I'm gonna use the reverse spell on them, see how they like it." It was her turn to snort at my comment before we focused back on the class. The Professor ran through the spell and demonstrated it on a water glass in front of him. He asked if there were any questions and I raised my hand. "Professor?"

"Oh yes! One of our guests! What is your question?"

"Does using this spell on the water mean there is more water? Or does it grow from a molecular level?" He paused.

"Well, to be honest, Mr. Taiki I have never thought about it like that."

"Okay. Well, does it weigh the same as it did?" The Professor tilted his head and reached down, trying to pick up the glass that was now the size of his head. He grunted and leaned back.

"Well, it appears it weighs exactly how it looks. That was a good question, thank you!" He turned to the rest of the class, "Any other questions?" A few students asked if there was a possibility of using it on a specific body part, like a hand, or leg.

'I'm going to use your face to try it out! These kids are so immature!' Akumu nudged me and I realized I had a slight glare on my face. I calmed myself and focused on the Professor.

"Engorgio works best on inanimate objects, therefore, you shouldn't try to grow something like someone's foot." Professor Flitwick nodded to end his comment. "Now, let's try it out. Remember, simple, smooth movements. Ready? Go!" I pointed my wand at the glass in front of me. I felt my magical core charge slightly in preparation, and I took a breath.

"Engorgio." The single word made my core flare a little, and the glass grew in size. It stopped at about twice the size it was. "Wow. First try." Akumu nodded and turned to her glass.

"Engorgio." Her glass grew as well, but it didn't stop at twice the size. It kept slowly inflating and I raised a hand.

"Um...Professor...!"

"Reducio!" A spell flew across the room and hit the glass, making it shrink down to its original size, wobbling a bit before Akumu steadied it with her hand. "Well done Miss Tanaka! Well done indeed! Just for future reference, make sure to think of the size you want it to grow to." Akumu nodded dumbly as she stared at the glass.

"Noted..." I did my best not to laugh at her. "Stuff it Taiki." I threw my hands up in defense.

"I didn't say anything!"

"You didn't have to." I sighed and watched the rest of the class attempt the spell, occasionally repeating it myself for practice. Most got it right, but Professor Flitwick was ready for any accidents. Thankfully, the only bad thing was when a glass grew too big and somehow shattered, sending a small pool's worth of water cascading down the seats, making some of the students scream. I chuckled as the Professor dried everything up with a spell.

"Alright, class! It appears that we have time for one more! Let's learn the charm, Avifors! It turns an object into a bird. Now, let me demonstrate." He cast the spell and his large glass of water sprouted wings and changed. Some of the class 'oohed'. I perked up in interest. "Right, now, you try it." I raised my wand after a second of thinking through the spell when a high-pitched squeal came from my left. My head snapped over and I saw a bird flapping wildly and trying to get at a young witch's face. I started to stand up, but I quickly leaned back as a knife flashed passed me, spearing the bird and killing it instantly. The witch pushed the bird away from her in a panic, and I quickly moved over. I picked it up and held it out of her view.

"Are you okay?" She brushed the hair out of her eyes and nodded, her voice shaking when she spoke.

"Yes, thank you. What happened?"

"Don't worry about it." I stealthily pulled the knife out and slipped it up my sleeve. I walked over to a window and tossed the bird out, closing it and turning to the professor. "Sorry Professor."

"No, no it is fine. Are you hurt Miss Farren?"

"No, it's just a small cut. I've had worse." I had noticed the small mark on her cheek from where the bird's talons had grazed her. The Professor nodded at her, then turned to me.

"Mr. Taiki, I thank you for your assistance." He paused for a second, "For future reference, please no muggle weapons in class." The Professor said in a lower tone so only I could hear. My heart skipped a beat and I nodded.

"Apologies Professor, I was merely protecting her."

"Understood." He nodded and I went back to my seat. I shot Akumu a half-hearted glare and she shrugged. I handed her the knife under the table and she slid it back into its sheath. We continued through the class, and thankfully no more murderous birds were conjured up.

Akumu and I filed out of the classroom once the class ended. I sighed.

"Magic is tiring." Akumu nodded.

"Do you think it's like a muscle?" I nodded after a second.

"That makes sense." I pushed off the wall. "Shall we go to...?" I raised an eyebrow as a hint and she nodded.

"Let's." She smirked as a few students looked at us weirdly. We walked down the hall, both of us enjoying the breeze through the open corridor. I raised an eyebrow when I saw Princey walking towards us.

"Here's Princey!" I stage whispered to her. She snorted and caught me in the ribs. I disguised a cough with a sharp grin. Malfoy stopped in front of us, folding his arm.

"Just where do you think you're going?" He said.

"We, are minding our business. Sounds like someone else hasn't learned it's a good trick to have up one's sleeves."

"Stop mocking me you foreign mudblood." He scowled. I dropped the fake smile, staring him down.

"Look. I am just trying to find our home. So unless you have a clue. 'Move.'" He pulled back a little in surprise as electricity danced in my eyes.

"Don't try to scare me muggle." I raised an eyebrow.

"'Muggle'? Is that one of your pathetic attempts to sound higher than me?"

"You!" He started to pull his wand out, but I leaped over him, landing opposite of Akumu.

"Point that wand at either of us. See just how fast we are." He spun around, and I ducked, kicking one leg out to the side while crouching low on the other one. The spell he sent out flew over my head, and I sprang high into the air. He tried to step back, but tripped, almost falling. I landed in front of him and swiftly chopped his hand. He cried out in pain and stepped back, holding his wrist. He immediately overreacted and made it sound like I had broken it.

"OW! It hurts! It hurts! Ahahahowwww..." I rolled my eyes.

"Mr. Taiki! Did I just see you attack a student?!" I rolled my eyes again as Professor Umbridge waddled up.

"Yes. Yes, you did. You should know, he attacked first." She huffed and walked over, helping a pathetic act get to his feet.

"That gives you no right to strike him down!"

"Professor, it was a disarming blow. I simply chopped his hand to make him drop his wand. It is no more harmless than an Expelliarmus."

"It looks much more harmful than a simple spell!" She spat out. Activate deadpanned look.

"Professor. Please. A blind deaf man can see through this act." Malfoy shouted and ran at me. I stepped to the side and he lost his balance, falling to the ground. I winced. "Now that, might be painful."

"Mr. Taiki!"

"I didn't touch him." I stepped back and held my hands up. Akumu was grinning like a fool behind Umbridge and I shot her a look. Umbridge hustled poor old Malfoy to his feet. According to Wimpy over there, he injured both his wrist and leg now.

"Oh, you poor, poor boy." I retched a little. Umbridge turned a glare on me. "I will not hear of you harming another student. Otherwise, it is detention for you!" I held my hands up.

"No more self-defense. Got it. If a student wants to kill me, I will let them." She was at a loss for words for a second.

"You will do well to remember the agreement we made, Mr. Taiki." She said snappishly. I sighed.

"Yes Professor." She huffed and turned, leading Malfoy away. I spotted his wand on the ground and sighed.

"Leave it!" Akumu hissed at me. I gave her a look and picked it up. I felt it hum a little and raised an eyebrow.

"Professor!" I jogged over to them. "I don't think he should forget this." I held it out. Malfoy gasped and snatched it with his supposedly injured hand.

"You thief! My father will hear about this!" He glared fire at me. I gave him a deadpanned look.

"You dropped it when you tried to zap me. I was giving it back." I stated simply. He continued his glare while Umbridge lead him away.

"Now now, Mr. Malfoy, there is no need to go for drastic measures. I will let your father know what has happened." She shot a look over her shoulder. I turned to Akumu and huffed.

"Children." She snorted.

"Come on, we're going to be late."

««{{¤}}»»

I ducked under a spell and flicked my wand.

"Expelliarmus!" The spell flew across the room, and the witch who was my dueling partner dodged it. She shot back two spells and clipped me on the shoulder with the second one. I fell back, my arm going numb. "Okay, that's new," I grunted as I pulled myself into a sitting position. The witch, someone named Cho Chang, hurried over and helped me to my feet. "Thank you."

"I'm sorry, I didn't expect to actually hit you." She said.

"Don't worry about it. How long does this last?"

"Just a minute." I nodded.

"That's good. I need a breather anyways." I said. I was fine, in all reality, but I had learned these spell tossers had next to no stamina, and she was a little more tired than the other students. She nodded back to me. I walked over to a table and picked up a drink. I sipped on the water as I watched the other witches and wizards dueling. One was tossed across the room. Another was lifted into the air, and one or two more were simply disarmed.

"Cease fire!" Harry stood in the middle of the room. "That's good! All of you!" I set my cup down and slow clapped. Everyone turned to me, and I coughed.

"Harry, if I may?" He nodded.

"Oh uh, sure." I took a step forward.

"How many of us got hit by a spell just now?" A few students raised their hands. "Not to darken the mood. But how many of us would still be standing if this was war?" A few other kids raised their hands, while the others put their hands down. Only four hands out of the 15-20 were still standing. "Four. Okay. Harry, come here please." He stepped forward, having been one of the ones to "survive". Before anyone could react, I had my right foot behind his, and my hand around his throat, leaning him back. A few of the students gasped. I held onto his shoulder with my left hand as he went horizontal, and I looked up. "Make that three." I hauled him to his feet and patted his back. "You good?"

"Y-yeah I'm good." He shook himself out of his shock and nodded.

"You see. You can never let your guard down." I turned to the rest of the group. Akumu smirked from behind the group, knowing where I was going with this. "For example." I held up my hand, a metal clinging sound echoing through the air as a knife clattered to the ground. I picked it up, tossing it into the air before catching it. With a smooth flick of my arm, the knife was dug into a wooden support beam off to my left. "Muggle weapons, as you lot like to call them." I held up a finger. "Extremely useful."

"Why would I want to use Muggle weapons?" I sighed as a student spoke up. Surprisingly, Ron beat me to it.

"They are quite interesting, actually. I would know, my father brings them home occasionally." The other wizard closed their mouth.

"Thank you, Ron. Now. What are you going to do if you lose your wand?" A hand went up and I pointed to Luna Lovegood.

"I would confuse my opponent with the Wrackspurts."

"Okay. And what if the Wrackspurts aren't around? What if you are completely alone in, say, a kitchen?"

"A kitchen? This is ridiculous! Harry, let's keep dueling." I closed my eyes and felt the room change. When I opened them, the room was devised into two sections. One was a mock up of a standard kitchen, and the other had the students sitting on benches. I walked up to the student that had spoken and held out my hand.

"Wand please." He scowled.

"I'm not giving you my wand." I twisted away from him, holding up his wand. He gasped as I continued talking.

"If! You are wandless! You need to defend yourself!" I stepped through the door in the wall and shut it, locking it. The wizard pounded on the door.

"Hey! Give me my bloody wand!" I ignored him and pressed a button on the wall.

"For example!" A creature landed on the island in the middle of the kitchen. "Acromantula! Defend yourself." I heard a scream from behind me and turned around. The student was running around like crazy, avoiding the dog sized spider. He grabbed a wooden cutting board and Frisbee'd it at the spider. It bounced off of its head and made it disappear in a cloud of smoke. "Good! Next!" A loud howl sounded and another scream, followed by two or three more. I watched as the black dog snarled at the student, who cowered in the corner. The fear in his eyes wasn't a phobia. I stepped through the door, recognizing the very real fear in the student's eyes. The dog turned to me and howled. "Down." It paused. "Down." It stepped off the table and crouched low to the ground. I bent forwards and petted its ears. "Good boy." It disappeared in smoke. The room around us settled back to normal. I walked over to the student and helped him to his feet. I handed him his wand.

"What. In bloody h-!" I spun to the class before he could finish.

"So! What did we see?"

"Someone who knows what the Grim is. You do know the history behind them, don't you?" One of the students said. She was shaking a little.

"Yeah, actually met one a couple of nights ago." Nobody moved.

"...You saw the Grim?"

"Yeah, kind of strange really. The thing was pretty smart." A few of the students pulled back.

"You do know the Grim is an omen of death right?" I paused, thinking about it.

"...Huh. Cool." They all gawked at me. "Guys. Come on. I've faced a lot worse than a black dog." Harry stepped forward.

"Where did you see this Grim?"

"Wandering the halls. It acted like your everyday smart dog. Picked up on what I was saying too. I guess it makes sense that it would be magical." I left out the part where the dog turned human. I didn't need them thinking I was an absolute loon. Just a partial one. Harry turned to the others, clearing his throat.

"Right. Um. Let's end it here, and we'll meet up again soon." Everyone dispersed, leaving the room one or two at a time. Once everyone was gone but the Trio, Akumu and I, Harry turned to me. "Did the dog do anything else?"

"Yeah, it tried to turn my neck into a shish kebab with a wand." They all paused. "Oh, and apparently, it has a strange obsession with you, Harry." They all deflated a little.

"That explains it."

"Does it? Because the guy was nuts."

"That would be my Godfather, Sirius Black." I raised an eyebrow.

"So...it was this Black guy pretending to be a dog, not the other way around?"

"Yes."

"Okay." I shrugged it off and Hermione spoke up.

"You seem awfully okay with all of this."

"Hermione, if I were to freak out about every little thing that I find strange, I wouldn't leave our room." She thought about it for a second.

"I guess you're right..." I nodded.

"Now that that's out of the way, shall we get some lunch?" Everyone nodded. I held out my arm and Akumu looped hers through. We walked out of the room, the door disappearing behind us. I paused and ran my fingers over the brick, feeling a slight spark of magic, and then a small flash of warning from the wand on my back. "Umbridge." The trio looked at me in surprise.

"What?"

"We just came back from a study session in the courtyard." Akumu nodded, slipping into the situation with ease.

"Thanks for helping us." She said to the trio. I egged them on with my free hand. Harry blinked when he got where we were going.

"Oh! Um, no problem."

"Yeah, I couldn't get that spell right. I guess it was the pronunciation, thank you, Hermione." I said as I winked at her. She caught on quickly and nodded, smiling.

"Of course, any good wizard knows the proper words are important." I nodded.

"I'll have to study more; it is something I need to work on." Umbridge walked around the corner ahead, and I pretended to notice her. "Oh! Hello Professor."

"Students," Her sickly sweet smile spread across her face. "Might I inquire what you are doing in this hallway, there are no classes down here."

"Hermione, Harry, and Ron were giving us some tips on Charms. I was having a bit of trouble with one of the spells and asked them if they could help. After all, I am only at the first year level and they are in their 5th year." Her smile tightened and my stomach curled.

"Well, I would ask that you refrain from hiding your little study groups and report them to me. As Hogwarts High Inquisitor, it is something I must be made aware of." I paused to take in a slow breath.

"Of course, Professor. We must be going now; we don't want to miss lunch." I tugged Akumu along and the Trio quickly followed. Once we were out of her sight, I turned to the others. "You need to find a new place to meet."

"What? Why?"

"Because she almost caught us, and if she does, you can say goodbye to the DA." I said. Hermione spoke up.

"But where? The Room of Requirement doesn't move." I laid my fingertips on the brick, feeling that spark of magic again. "Rai? What are you doing?"

"Gimme a sec." I closed my eyes, feeling the pull of magic from my core. It reached out to touch the magic in the walls, and I noticed Akumu suck in a breath.

'She notices it too…' I felt the magic swirl up my arm, lacing around me. It faded and I pulled my fingers off the wall. Turning to the others, they were all gawking.

"What? Oh! Um...Hogwarts is sentient."

"What did you promise?!" Hermione got right in my face and I leaned back a little.

"Uh! I don't think I...!"

"That was a magically binding promise, what did you promise?!"

"I don't think it was, Hermione," I said. "I was asking if the Room can be moved, and it reached out...hang on..." I stepped over to the nearest door and placed my hand on the handle. I felt the magic flow down into my hand, and the handle glowed. I pushed open the door and gasped. It was the Room. "It worked." I shut the door and turned to the others. "We can make the Room travel with us!"

"What? How?" Hermione was immediately on top of it, looking at the handle as the glow faded.

"I guess Hogwarts knows what we are trying to do, and it wants to help protect us. If we can get every member of the DA to do this, then we don't need a specific place to meet. Everyone just walks through the closest door!"

"Rai, that is brilliant!" Harry said. "So, how do we do this?" I opened the door without using my magic and stepped inside.

"In here." Everyone filed in and I shut the door. "Do you know where your magical core is?" All three of them hesitated.

"What do you mean by magical core?" Hermione asked. I nodded at her.

"Okay, let's start there then."