Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters whose names can be found in the Harry Potter books.

"Aw come on," Sam whined as the group of Fia, Heather, Aidan, Brod and himself made their way down to dinner.

"No," Brod said firmly. "You're Sam."

"Can't I be both" Sam whined.

"Now that's an idea," Heather remarked before Brod could voice his opinion.

"Huh," Fia said, "what idea?"

"That he," Heather said, gesturing at Sam "could be both Harry and Sam."

"How can he be Harry AND Sam?" Fia asked in a puzzled tone.

"Exactly," Brod interjected.

"Easily," Heather replied in her calm tone. "He could be Sam Harry."

Brod made a face at this but Sam seemed to like the idea.

"Yeah, that'd work." He said excitedly. "I can be both Sam and Harry at the same time; oh what about Harry James Sam Potter?"

"Nah," Aidan remarked "that sounds strange, what about Samuel James Harry Potter."

"Or Samuel James Harrison Potter" Fia interjected. "Cause the Harry sounds short and weird there."

"Hmm, Samuel James Harrison Potter" Sam tried it out.

"I like Samuel James Harrison." Heather remarked.

"So do I" Fia said, it has a ring to it.

"It will of course be shortened to Sam," Aidan added.

Sam considered his new title for a minute, "Harrison doesn't sound all that bad actually." He thought out loud. "And the Samuel sounds cool, I guess I can live with it."

"WOOT!" Brod whistled his approval, and the group grinned happily.

At first when Sam had rescued the griffin chick, the students of Flaeria had been surprised to see Sam walking around with a shadow phoenix on his shoulder and a griffin chick riding in his books' satchel but it soon became normality, as many stranger things had occurred. Brod attended all of Sam's classes, his favourite being spell casting and creation because as he pointed out to Sam, griffins were naturally in tune with the magic around them and so were responsible for most of the created spells.

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"Now class I would like you to develop your own approach on the water creation enchantment we have been working on." Professor Isonsel instructed the class at large. "Anything you do not finish this lesson will be homework, BEGIN."

Sam was seated near the back of the class. He shared none of his classes with Fia or Heather and so tended to talk to Aidan and Brod. Spell casting and creation was by far his favourite class. Professor Isonsel was very strict, being a griffin and all this was almost a given their tempers were renowned. The reason Sam liked this class however was more for the fact that he could weave something out of nothing, and secretly he enjoyed being able to do something Matt couldn't.

"So what do you think I should do," Sam asked Brod and Aidan as he pulled out his books.

"A spell" Aidan replied jauntily.

"Hardy ha ha." Sam remarked sarcastically.

"Well you asked," Aidan replied smugly.

"I reckon you should make ice." Brod interrupted.

Sam turned to the young griffin. "You mean just freeze the water produced."

"Pretty much," the griffin said.

"Hmm," Aidan pondered the idea, "I like it." He decided at last.

"It's not bad," Sam said happily, flicking through his book to find to motion and incantation for ice. If I just replace the incantation and motion for water with ice then it should work."

Both Brod and Aidan remained silent.

"Right?" Sam asked again, unsure now.

Aidan chuckled, "why don't you try it out," and then he added. "But aim it at the back of that guy's head." He gestured to a centaur up the front.

"Wait, wait. Alright so the spell is to create a jet of water, and the words are minimus aqua flumen meaning small water river so if I make a small ice river what do I have?"

"Try it out," Aidan said, chuckling "but like I said aim it at that guy's head."

Sam glared at his familiar and turned to Brod who looked just as confused as him. "Do you know what happens when you create a river of ice?

Brod shook his head in reply.

"Just try it," Aidan said.

Sam pulled a face then placed his hands in front of him in preparation. "Minimus glacies flumen!"

"Contineo!" Professor Isonsel yelled quickly, she seemed to cast shields like this often, and Sam became trapped within a shield.

The class watched transfixed as ice built up within Sam's hands, he held what looked like a giant ice ball that continued to grow.

Sam watched transfixed as the ice ball doubled in size within a second.

"Are you going to watch it all day or are you going to throw it?" Aidan yelled at his friend.

"How big will it grow?" Sam yelled back, the growing ice ball created loud cracking sounds as it grew, making it hard to hear.

"As big as your core" Aidan replied "and probably bigger as by that time it'll start drawing from other magic sources as well."

"But why isn't it a river?" Sam asked, not worrying about the ice anymore and curious about what had gone wrong.

"Well think about it," Aidan replied. "Water is a liquid so it can flow but"

"Ice is a solid, so it can't be a river." Sam yelled in a moment of enlightenment. "And because I asked it to become a river and it can't it will continue to try and does so by growing. And it will grow until its power source is cut off."

"Very good." Professor Isonsel said snappily, "but now that you have realised your mistake would you kindly dispose of your creation."

"With pleasure," Sam grinned and pulled his magic into himself quickly before letting out a sharp burst which sent the ice ball careening into the shield, which buckled but didn't brake.

"Hmm," Sam looked at the shield as everyone went back to their work. Professor Isonsel didn't seem to be volunteering to bring it down so he supposed this was his entertainment for the rest of the lesson.

Sam sent a wave of fire at the wall but it simply washed away from the sides and filled the ball with flames.

"Right," Sam said. "So this thing doesn't have any cracks. Well what about weaknesses. REDUCTO!" A jet of light shot from Sam's outstretched palms but was simply absorbed into the shield.

"Hmm," Sam pondered, flopping onto the floor in a meditation position. He breathed in deeply and closed his eyes, delving into his core.

"Well this looks like fun," Aidan remarked, speaking through their mind link.

"Hm," Sam hummed, trying to think of something to do.

"Hey Aidan," he said suddenly. "Is it possible to see magic?"

Aidan paused a second before answering. "Well you can see the jet of light from some spells can't you, and you can see some shields."

"No, not like that, I mean, like the magic behind it." Sam interrupted.

"I'm not sure I understand," Aidan replied.

"Well you know how you weave a spell by putting different words together to create a channel for the magic, well can you see the 'weave'."

"Hmm," It was now Aidan's turn to hum. "I've heard of people doing it, but I believe they were born with the ability to view magic, phoenixes can do it to some extent."

Sam seemed to except this and Aidan waited for the next question but was shocked when he was violently pushed from Sam's mind and the magic in the room spiked.

Aidan's eyes flew to Sam but he looked no different then before, although there appeared to be a slight wind moving his hair.

It seemed that other member of the class had sensed the magic spike and were looking widely around for the source, though only the professor had identified it has Sam.

"What are you doing?" Aidan whispered to himself as he felt the magic around him bending, it was as if Sam had started a giant vacuum cleaner and was sucking the magic into himself, but not just into himself Aidan realised, into his eyes.

"SAM!" Aidan yelled.

And black haired boy snapped his eyes open, through his orbs were no longer the vibrant green he had been born with, instead they were white and pupil less, his eyes seemed to glow and the dragon hybrid stretched out his palm to the shield. He moved his right hand down to the bottom of the shield; extinguish incendia, he then moved his left palm to face the right wall of the shield, sedo aqua, Sam then flipped both palms to the top of the shield Evanesco Obex! Sam screamed the last two words and a huge boom echoed through the classroom. The shield shattered; taking with it the windows in every class down the hall. The dragon hybrid dropped his hands to his sides, but his eyes did not return to emerald green.

Aidan gazed at his familiar, standing proud in the middle of the room, glass littered the floor at his feet and his white eyes stared straight ahead. "Extinguish incendia" Aidan whisped, "to extinguish fire that gave it strength; sedo aqua to calm the water that allowed the shield to absorb attacks. Then evanesce obex, to vanish the barrier. Well done sun child, very well done."

The magic in the room had dimmed as soon as the display was over but now rushing footsteps could be heard in the hall.

Three teachers burst into the room, all looking prepared for a fight, but were shocked when all they saw was a classroom in disarray and a very startled looking spell casting teacher.

"Aidan?" A voice whispered and the phoenix whipped his head to face Sam.

"Sam?" The phoenix asked nervously.

"Aidan, it's so dark. I can't see anything."

"You channelled too much power into your eyes." The nurse remarked as she gazed into Sam's eyes, flashing a light into the white orbs.

After the incident and Sam had announced that he was blind, the teachers and Aidan has jumped into action, moving to reach Sam as he stumbled forward. He has been taken to the infirmary where the nurse has exclaimed at the foolishness of students and lack of supervision before seating Sam on a hard wooden chair and proceeding to examine his eyes.

"What does that mean," Sam asked, nervousness creeping into his voice.

The nurse sighed, "I've never seen a case like this. I don't think anyone has ever been stupid enough to use their eyes as a means of channelling their power. Though as can be seen, you have no sight."

"Will it come back," Sam asked frantically.

"I don't know," the nurse said abruptly "though if I were to take a guess I would say not."

Sam sat stunned, he barely registered that the nurse had walked away, unable to think anything beyond the fact that he was blind.

"It really is your own stupid fault." Aidan said bluntly.

"WHAT!" Sam yelled, rounding on his familiar, his anger spiking.

"Well who else do you propose is responsible?"

Sam was silent.

"Exactly," Aidan said, and he jumped up from the chair he was perched on and flew from the infirmary, angrier at himself for not stopping Sam then for Sam for doing it.

Sam turned his head, unnerved by the blackness that surrounded him.

"What's going to happen?" He asked, feeling someone watching him.

"Nothing" A gruff voice replied and Sam realised with a start that Meric was present. "You'll just have to learn to cope without your sight."

Sam nodded; though tears threatened to flow he held them back with sheer will. He then heard footsteps approaching and assumed the nurse had returned. Cold hands touched his check and something was pushed into his eyes. Blinking Sam felt nothing, and wondered if that was meant to make a difference.

"They're contacts" the nurse said. "So others will not know you are blind until you tell them. Though I'm sure they will figure it out quickly."

Sam nodded, grateful for the gift, before getting slowly to his feet. He reached out blindly with his hands, searching for something to hold onto. His fingers connected with a bench which he began to walk with until he felt a wall.

He heard a sigh behind him before footsteps approached and a rough hand grabbed him and spun him around.

"The door is that way." Meric said gruffly and Sam blushed before starting to walk slowly in the opposite direction.

The weeks passed slowly for Sam. It had been hard telling his friends what had happened, but they had vowed to help him in everything though Sam could feel their stares sometimes, as well as the looks of every other student in the school. Aidan had disappeared for two days after the event but had then returned, to Sam's thankfulness, for he had been lonely without his constant companion. And on his return Aidan had begun to violently defend Sam to all who thought him and easy fight, though this appeared to be the only change in him. Brod seemed to have the littlest change to Sam and for that Sam was grateful. While Fia meant well, trying to guide him through everything Sam wished she would allow him to stumble and find his own way.

Magic had also become harder, Sam never realised how much he relied on his sight, but not that he didn't have it, it felt harder to visualise the spells and so he had done no magic since the 'incident'.

The group of Sam, Aidan, Brod, Fia and Heather were sitting in the dinning hall for lunch and Sam reached out for something to eat but before he could find anything a plate was put in front of him.

"That has peas, carrots and meat on it" Fia said happily.

Sam looked up at his friend and forced a smile. "Thanks," he said and went to grab a fork but suddenly Fia handed that to him as well "do you want anything else," she asked in all kindness but Sam had finally had enough.

"STOP!" He yelled, jumping up from the bench. "I'm blind not stupid!"

"Huh," Fia looked shocked at this outburst but Heather looked to be expecting it.

"Sam, what?" Fia started but Sam had already found the wall with his hand and whipped his head back to face Fia.

"Just leave me alone for a while," he said simply before he pulled a stick out of his pocket and walked out of the hall, stick scanning the ground and hand on the wall.

Sam had been walking for the past ten minutes. Not knowing where he was going, just walking. His hand met a doorknob and unthinkingly he entered the empty classroom. The black haired boy had no idea where he was, he just wanted some space to think, moving a little away from the door Sam sat with his back to a wall and allowed himself to fall into meditation.

He delved deep into his being until he felt his core; it was different than normal, while this was the only place where he could 'see', for the huge ball of light was still visible, rather he felt it now too. Even so it felt, different as if he was more sensitive to the flow. He knew that magic was always flowing through the body but it seemed what he had always been told was true. When one sense dies the others grow to replace it. Sam sighed softly and then pushed a small amount of power into his finger tips. A small white ball flashed before his vision and Sam let the flow stop in shock. In hesitation he pushed a small amount of raw power into his finger tips again, the light returned, though this time it did not flicker out. Pouring power into his whole hand Sam saw, to his amazement, his hand become visible, but not in colour but as a light. Excitement flooded through him and Sam threw out his magic, letting it flood the entire room. Images came to him; he could see everything and some things even had symbols on them. Through at the moment the fact that he could see symbols was not what excited him, it was the fact that he could see, to some extent.

Sam turned around to find the door and stepped forward confidently to put his hand on the doorknob. Pausing to saver the moment Sam flung the door open and his magic flooded the hall bringing him images of walls and doors. Everything he saw was infused with the same glowing white light but he didn't care, he could see. Quickly realising he'd left his stick on the floor; he ducked back into the room to grab it before bursting into the hallways once more. He looked to a shape on the wall and realised he couldn't see anything outside the square shape, realising it was a picture Sam whooped in joy before racing down the hall. His magic rapidly feeding him images of the world around him. Suddenly he felt someone ahead of him. It was strange, so far he has only 'felt' objects but this person had a definite feeling about them. It was like looking at someone, they had an essence he had never felt before.

"It must have something to do with the fact that I can feel magic better now." Sam whispered to himself as he passed the other person in the hall. He could feel the confusion they felt and Sam realised with a sudden jolt that he could feel the magic bending to their emotions.

"I wonder how far this thing goes," Sam said aloud pushing his magic out in all direction. Images flooded him of the castle, there were two people very close together in a closet two floors down, not wanted to know what they were doing so he quickly withdrew his 'sight'.

Allowing his magic to flow like this was being to tire him but Sam didn't want to give up his sight just yet. Moving towards the staircase he began to ascend, wondering if his new sight allowed him to read. However no sooner did he reach the library than he began to tire considerably. Grabbing the first book he could put his hand on Sam suddenly got the distinct feeling of a being in the book. He could practically see someone pouring over the texts, putting a little bit of their power into each page. Gasping at the image Sam flipped to the first page and was shocked to hear a voice in his head.

"Yes, yes, first you add the bat wings, but they must be dyed, oh yes in the full moon, then lace wings."

The black haired boy snapped the book shut and allowed his tired limbs to drift to the floor. The constant use of magic was starting to take a tole on his body.

"What was that?" He asked himself.

Carefully he opened the book again, he could practically feel the person writing this, pouring his essence into it, and suddenly he understood. The voice he could hear were the thoughts of the person as they wrote this book. They were the essence being poured into the book. To test the theory he pulled out his own homework from last night and he heard his own thoughts, the page practically sang to him.

"Amazing," He whispered, the constant use of his magic however was getting to him and so Sam resigned himself once more to a world of darkness and pulled his magic back into himself.

Disappointed in the darkness, he stumbled to his feet, reaching into his satchel to produce his stick, before beginning to make his way to his next class.

Sam didn't tell anyone about what he discovered; he felt that this was something he had to work out on his own. And so he had begun by testing his limits. He found that he could hold the 'state of sight' as he'd called it, for approximately half an hour, if he strained, and then it took him a day to get over it. So along with the physical training Meric put him through and lessons Sam also trained to improve his ability.

He'd found very quickly that reading was the most tiring exercise because it involved feeling the essence of another while keeping his magic spread. And so for weeks Sam would sneak out in the middle of the night and read; often ending up dozing off at the library and barely making it to training. At first Aidan had asked where he was going but he soon realised that his friend wanted to be alone and so Sam was left to his own devices in the middle of the night.

The end of the term was also rapidly approaching, and so were exams, though Sam hadn't bothered to start studying. Right now he was trying to figure out the mystery of the symbols that he saw, but only on some objects. He knew it had something to do with spells because as he had seen the symbols whenever magic was used by another and he was using his sight. It was during a particularly long reading session that he found his answer.

"Symbols are used to create spells; the most common ones are the basic elements of; fire, water, earth and air though there are others. Basic commands are other common symbols, thing such as; to vanish, to clean, to create or begin, to end, to protect. The symbols for these are as followed" symbols began to flick through Sam's mind and in shock he recognised them. Every single one was carved on at least one piece of furniture in the castle and occasionally an occupant too. He begun to listen intently as the essence explained how the symbols were used in basic spell creation. There was one set of symbols that was plastered on everything in the castle that Sam wanted to know the meaning of and the book revealed this to be a cleaning charm, which amused Sam slightly. Though the time was drawing closer to being morning than night and Sam placed the book back on the self and left the library for his room. He was very proud of himself for lasting six hours, he'd charmed his watch to speak the time, now if he could just double that he would be able to see the majority of the day.

"You're in a good mood this morning." Aidan remarked as Sam walked happily around his room, gathering things necessary for training.

"Well you know," Sam said, "new day, new adventure."

Aidan rolled his eyes.

"Don't roll your eyes at me." Sam said, searching around to find a sock, but as soon as he said it the room went quiet.

"How did you know I rolled my eyes?" Aidan asked curiously, Brod perked his head up in interest as well.

"I just know you really well." Sam replied continuing to search for his sock.

"No, that's not it," Aidan replied back. "You looked at me when you said it, like you could see me."

"Well," Sam started, looking over at Aidan before sighing. "It's hard to explain."

"We've got time." Brod said simply, waiting for an explanation.

Sam looked out the window for a second before turning to Aidan, "I can't really see, not like I used to." He started. "What I do is more like an improvisation."

The phoenix cocked his head to the side in confusion.

"It's like this," Sam said. "You know when I ran off that time," Aidan nodded. "Well I ended up in the empty classroom and I was just channelling raw power into my fingertips and then I found that I could see it. At first I thought I was seeing things, but then I tired it out on everything, and it WORKS!" Sam's excitement could be heard by the end.

Aidan still looked confused. "So, you can see magic?" He asked.

"I don't know," Sam said, "I think I can see what my magic sees. Like I don't just see things normally I actually have to extend my powers and then I see everything as a ball of bright light, like my magic reflects of everything and comes to show me what's there. Like a bat!"

Aidan was amazed by this. "So you've got a form of echolocation?" He asked.

"I guess so," Sam replied. "But it's more than that, like I can feel others magic as well."

"As in?"

"As in, I know it's you there because I can feel your presence, and everyone's presence is different; like their own unique smell."

"Interesting" Aidan remarked.

"But I can also feel your emotions from that. That's how I knew you'd rolled you're eyes." Sam said, and as if to prove his point he felt surprise from Aidan.

"So you see with your magic." Aidan said, "is there anything else I should know?"

"Just one more" Sam replied. "When I'm reading a book, I don't see the words, I just feel the magic of the person who wrote it."

"Huh," Aidan made a confused noise.

"It's like when you're writing something you put some of yourself into what you write and I can pick up on that. Basically I can hear what the person was thinking when they were writing something."

"REALLY!" Aidan exclaimed, excited by the prospect. "That's absolutely amazing."

Sam just grinned in response.

"SAM!" Meric's yell echoed through the section. "HURRY UP KID!!!!"

"Coming sir!" Sam yelled back before darting out of his dorm, Aidan close behind, Brod bringing up the rear.

Sam's wings strained to hold him airborne as he lifted the 50 kilogram weight in his arms.

"H-Ho-How much L-L-Longer" Sam managed to grunt out, his wings heaving.

"Four minutes," Aidan replied, hovering next to him.

"Ah," Sam groaned, struggling to stop him self crashing to the ground.

"You know, now that I think about," Aidan said suddenly, "you were acting a lot more confident with everything. I mean, last week you walked around with your shoulders all hunched over but now you're standing up straight and proud."

"Ahhh," Sam moaned. "Aidan, w-why do you want to talk about this now."

"Cause now seemed like a good time," the phoenix responded calmly, "3 minutes to go."

Sam gritted his teeth, and pumped his wings as Aidan made his next statement.

"You know I just thought you might be accepting that you weren't going to be able to see, but noooo not my partner, you are so stubborn."

"You say that like it's a bad thing." Sam panted.

"Maybe it is," Aidan remarked. "Though how are you holding it up, I mean, stretching your magic like that must be taxing."

"It is," Sam was tiring rapidly, and the deep and meaningful conversation was not helping his stamina.

"So how long can you hold it up?" Aidan asked.

"Six," Sam puffed out.

"Minutes?"

"Hours" Sam responded.

"Drop," Aidan remarked suddenly seconds before his familiar fell out of the sky to land in a heap on the hard dirt.

"Thank goodness." Sam panted, not bothering to move from where he lay as Aidan spiralled down to land next to him.

"How long exactly did it take to build your reserves up to six hours and what was it originally?" Aidan continued the game of twenty questions.

"Well, when I first tried it, I lasted for like fifteen minutes, twenty tops. But I've been working on it for three weeks now."

"And you practised every day?"

"Yeah," Sam mumbled before stumbling to his feet and being to make his way up to class, pulling out his stick and running it over the ground, simply from habit rather than any real need.

"You do realise that your magic endurance has not just doubled but doubled four times."

Sam didn't really seem bothered by this information as he stepped easily over the plains; Toby had finished earlier than him and had some homework due first lesson so he didn't have his friend to walk up with him today.

"I never really thought about it like that." Sam said at last.

Aidan snorted. "Only you would find that you could times you magic potential by twenty-four in a month and not seem remotely bothered."

Sam just shrugged and grinned, "It's who I am."

Aidan hmm, half in amusement, "so are you going to announce this?"

"Well I'll tell Fia and Heather, and probably Toby." Sam replied, obviously he had been thinking about this. "But honestly it doesn't really matter to me if everyone else thinks I'm blind. I mean, quite a few creature here are blind, they simply use other senses to find what they need. And no-body re-acted really weirdly to me being blind, hell, most thought it was stranger when Brod started living in my book bag."

To this Aidan gave a small snort.

"Besides, people always underestimate you when you have a 'disability', personally I like to think I see the world clearer now. I mean, hell, I can't exactly judge a book by its cover."

Aidan cocked his head to the side at this statement before asking his last question.

"Will you tell your parents?"

At this Sam seemed to falter; looking forlorn he gazed up at the castle, getting closer with every step.

"This is my home now Aidan," he remarked at last. "And honestly, I think somehow it's always been my home. My parents are related to me just by the fact that they gave birth to me but other than that we're nothing alike. I have wings, horns and fangs. My skin is no longer white, but tanned and hard, I've reached a height that no one else in my family has and will probably gain a few more inches still. Blindness made me lose my mother's eyes and probably the most important thing is my name. I'm not Harry anymore, one more thing I've lost that my parents gave me. My black hair is the only thing I've kept, though I'm hoping that stays at least, I like to think that just even by a small amount I am still connected to my parents. My point is; that every day, I become less like Harry and more like Samuel and sometimes that scares me, but most of the time I like thinking that I'm no longer in my brother's shadow. I'm not Matt's twin anymore, I'm Sam. And I'm thinking that maybe I should stop trying to be Matt, because really, I guess that's what I've always wanted to be, just like Matt."

"It took going blind for you to realise this?" Aidan asked, breaking the mood and making Sam laugh.

"No, well sort of," He said sheepishly. "But not seeing makes things look different. Don't say anything." He added the end bit quickly to shut Aidan up.

"Honestly, I think I'm going to tell them everything." Sam finished

"What if they forbid you coming back?" Aidan asked, trying to gauge how determined Sam was to do this.

"Then I guess I'll have to leave won't I," Sam said without hesitation. "I'm sure Heather or Fia will take me in."

"Won't you miss them?" Aidan asked, feeling sad that his familiar had to make this hard choice so early; he'd hoped they had another few years but fate didn't seem to like his plans.

"Yes," Sam said, "but at the same time I want to leave, I'm guessing dragons mature around twelve because I most kids I know would be pretty torn up about leaving their parents, but I just feel like it's time."

Aidan rolled his eyes to this. "You're spot on with the guess about dragon maturity, twelve years old and they're out on their own."

Sam snorted, "but still" he added "I don't really want to leave, I'll only go if I feel I need to but I'd seriously like to stick around for a few more years."

Aidan hummed at this statement, "spoken like a true human, honestly you guys mature so slowly. Most creatures are alone by two or three years old, not twenty."

Sam just snorted at his friend's teasing, before marching into the castle that had become more than just a home to him.