William's feet were crunching through the first heavy snow of the season several weeks later. There was heavy cloud cover that night, but every so often the light of the full moon would peak through the clouds and dance across the perfectly laid down snow. William sighed, midterms were just a few days away but after the past month, he knew that he had to find where Nick went on the full moon so he could see his friend the first thing tomorrow and show that yes he cared, he cared enough to be there through the worst of times.
It had just been a few days ago, but the memory was burned clear into William's memory.
For the past several weeks he had been working hard under Franklin Perry's tutelage to produce the Wolfsbane potion. It was a particularly tough brew but William had been able to do it largely without Franklin's help, which the older boy had been quite surprised by. The potion had a week-long brewing process, and all of the ingredients had to be input when the moon was in the sky even though they were inside. Each ingredient had to be carefully measured into the potion or else the entire thing wouldn't work.
William recalled the careful weighing on his scales that had been required for the powdered root of the Black Mercy which was the crucial piece in making the potion work. When the potion had been complete it was a deep blue color, with a very smooth texture, with a light acrid blue smoke coming off of it like wisps of steam. William had then placed it into a large vessel that Franklin had lent him for the occasion with a cork that he had to cut a small hole into so the fumes could escape instead of building up.
As one of the classes he shared with Nick ended, he caught up to the taller boy in the hall. Nick had at first ignored him, but then stopped after a few feet of William casually walking beside him like they had last year. "What?" Nick finally said after stopping.
"Look," William had explained, "I don't really know what you're going through, but I want to be your friend Nick."
Nick let out a grunt of, "Whatever," and started moving again.
William grabbed him by the sleeve, Nick tried to shrug him off, but William held fast and said, "I don't really know what to say but I did find a way I might be able to help."
Nick paused for a brief moment, and so William brought out the large bottle with it's faint blue smoke coming out of the cork. Nick's eyes grew wide as he stared at the bottle, and he suddenly grabbed William, and threw him into a nearby boy's bathroom. "Are you insane?" Nick whispered quickly.
William shook his head, "What's the problem it's just Wolfsbane potion."
"I know what it is," Nick growled, his face looked almost hurt at the words. "My point is that it's highly regulated and can only be made by Department licensed potioneers."
"What?" William replied, staring down at the bottle. He then shook his head, and extended the bottle to Nick again, "But you need it."
Nick growled, "I already have mine." He then turned his back on William, "You'd know that if you had been paying any attention."
William bit his lip, he had hoped this wouldn't turn into another example of how he wasn't Nick's friend. "Nick, I just wanted to..." He trailed off unsure of what to say anymore.
The taller boy just left with a brief murmuring of, "Whatever."
William had been left standing there with a large potion bottle filled with a week's supply of Wolfsbane Potion. William took a deep breath, opened up the bottle which began spewing blue smoke at a steady rate and then poured it directly down the drain of one of the sinks. He could only stand there shaking his head as he watched the smooth perfectly crafted potion go sliding down the drain. William was just happy that no one had come in to see the few tears coming down his cheeks.
That was why now on the full moon William had decided to hunt down Nick's hide-a-way. He wasn't exactly sure where they would keep a werewolf on the full moon but William was certain that it had to be somewhere relatively untraveled on campus. William started out by making a circle of all the old clearings that the dark older students used.
It was strange to revisit them, in the past few months they had become overgrown with the standard forest underbrush but were still relatively distinct from the rest of the forest around them. William eventually made it around the edge of campus to the old courtyard where Nick had been bitten last year. William took a deep breath as he stood in the heavy snow of the old courtyard. They had fixed the gate, it was no longer twisted open but instead sat perfectly crafted as if it had never been torn apart by a dark wizard. Even the old walls had been removed of the horrible scarring that the battle between Tall Elk and the dark students had caused. William walked up to old walls and ran his fingers over the smooth brick, it was hard to believe that it had only been a few months. As his fingers touched the brick he felt a light throb in his leg and William sighed, the pain would occasionally come back when he thought about that night.
William then traipsed off in a different direction than he was used to, his feet crunching through the snow as he searched for some of the old buildings that he knew were around campus. Eventually he came upon a small dilapidated outbuilding along the far wall from the main gates of campus. William checked his watch and shook his head, it was well past curfew and he would definitely not have a fun walk back but still he had to look around.
William came up to the old building and tried the door. The door was stuck at first but he quickly realized that it wasn't locked but just so rarely used. William shoved open the door by pushing his shoulder into it, surprised by his own strength. As he entered the old building he looked around unsure of exactly what it was, "Lumos," William murmured as he closed the door with a bit of effort behind him.
William was surprised to see that there were several candles about the room, and a huge clump of several candles melted together on the center of an old wood table. He crept up to the table, and tapped it with a murmur of a fire charm and the candles burst to life revealing the ancient stone of the outbuilding, a hearth in one corner as well as a rotted out staircase, and another door in the wall to the right. There were yellowed pieces of parchment tacked up onto the walls of the building, William looked at them carefully and realized that they were carefully drawn maps of the east coast though the boundaries were a little strange. It was as he carefully looked at them and suddenly realized that there were several states missing that William realized that the map was from the colonial era.
It was as he ran his fingers over the aged parchment that a voice suddenly called out with a measure of authority, "What are you doing here?"
William let out a shout and spun around with his wand tip lit up. He backed up immediately as a glowing translucent figure was hovering just outside of the door in the right wall. It was an image of an old man, his face showing many lines and weathering with a tuft of fine hair on his head. His clothing was surprisingly simple, a pair of breeches that tapered off into ghostly nothingness, an open shirt and a dark vest that matched his breeches. Finally the figure seemed to be leaning on an old cane that much like his legs seemed to disappear into nothingness. The old figure glowered at William, and William suddenly couldn't help but feel ashamed as if he had somehow been caught doing something wrong by his grandfather or the like. The figure then said again, "I asked what you are doing here boy, now speak up."
"I...I'm..." William grasped for words unsure of exactly what to say. Finally finding his voice he pronounced, "I'm looking for a friend of mine."
The old figure glided forward, and William backed up slightly, it extended the cane and William could feel a cool breeze as the figure seemed to rap the cane against him. "Well no one's been through here in quite some time, boy." He then scowled down at William, "You're a little scrawny to be a student here boy. What's your name?"
"William," William stammered.
"William what?" The old man said as he floated around the small seventh grader.
"Fraser," William answered trying to maintain a sense of confidence, "My name is William Fraser."
"A scot," the old figure murmured. William stuck out his chin exactly unsure of how to respond to the remark. "You're out late looking for your friend. Is he missing? I'd have expected to be informed."
"Not quite," William answered.
"Well if he's not missing, then why are you looking for him?" The old specter asked as it floated toward the table.
William moved to stand across the table from the being, and answered, "Because he's my friend and it's the only way I can..." He shook his head, "It's complicated."
"Trust me, boy," the spirit replied, "I know about complicated situations. I can't imagine you have anything too complex going on at your age."
William shook his head and then explained, "My friend is a werewolf and he's not talking to me anymore. But it's the full moon and so..."
The old man suddenly burst into a rage, "Are you daft boy?" A cool wind blew across the candles and put them out, "You don't hunt down a werewolf on the full moon unless you have some sort of death wish. Friend or not."
William sighed, "I just," He then shook his head, and then admitted under the glare of the angry old spirit, "It's pretty ridiculous but I just thought it could somehow work."
The old spirit shook his head and then said, "I'm sure there are better ways to patch things up with your friend, trust me boy." He then glowered at him, "You should get going now."
William nodded, then made his way to the door under the watchful eye of the spirit. As he opened it up, William frowned, it had started to snow again while he had been in the old building. The spirit then grumbled, "Damn, alright boy follow me no sense in walking around in weather like that."
William closed the door, and then pried open the door that the spirit had entered through following him into a tightly packed area with a kitchen, and an old upstanding closet. The spirit paused to stare at William, "Where's your cloak boy?"
William shrugged, "Well I don't really have one, sir."
The old spirit gestured to the upstanding closet and William walked over and opened it. Inside he was surprised to find that there were several old looking black cloaks, along with a few sets of hats, boots, and some spare shirts. The old spirit explained, "There always used to be people coming and going through here." William grabbed one of the smaller cloaks and found that it still draped around him several times and dragged on the ground a bit. The spirit just grunted, "You'll grow into it, now down through this door here." He gestured to a door in the wall next to the one through which they had entered.
William opened it to find a set of roughly hewn stone steps that lead downward. He followed them by the light of the old man and then asked, "Sir, if it's not too impolite, are you a ghost?"
The old being grunted out a rough laugh, "What are they teaching at the school these days. Of course I'm a ghost."
William nodded, unsure of what to say, and then he asked cautiously, "How did you die?"
The ghost grew quiet as it floated down and then grunted quietly, "Carelessness."
William let out a brief, "Oh," then grew quiet again.
The staircase lead into a dark set of tunnels that the ghost began navigating through with ease. As he lead the way, the ghost asked, "Where do you live, boy?"
"Corey Hall," William responded as he followed the ghost, tugging on the cloak he had gotten from the old building, as it was equally as cold in the tunnels as it had been above.
The ghost let out another raspy rough laugh and then said, "That's a good dormitory, I know it fairly well."
William nodded as the ghost continued to guide him through the twisting winding tunnels, past forks and junctures that William couldn't quite follow. Finally the ghost stopped when he came to a hole in the side of the cavern wall that sloped carefully upward. "Here you go," the old ghost answered, "It will let you out into the courtyard at the center of the dormitory. Good luck, boy."
"Thank you, sir," William said as he bundled the cloak up. Unable to shake the old man's hand, he pulled out his wand and saluted the ghost.
The ghost smiled, and returned the salute with its incorporeal cane. "Stay out of trouble, William Fraser."
William nodded, and clambered up the smooth slope before coming to a stone slab. He was surprised to find that it had a simple hand hold that when he gripped it, the stone suddenly slid away with a smoothness that only magic could bring. William then climbed out of the tunnel and out into the snow under the full moon, after a few moments the stone slid silently back into place and he found himself in a corner of the dormitory's courtyard. William carefully made his way to the entrance that connected to his hall, unlocked the door, and then slipped in before heading back to his own room. In his room he hung up the old cloak in his closet and then carefully and quietly slipped into bed for a quiet and peaceful sleep.
As he lay in his bed, William suddenly realized something. Only in the quiet of the dormitory did he realize that there was a sound missing from when he was down in the tunnels. The entire time he had been down there he could've sworn he had heard a low baying or howling. William shook his head, wondering if it had been in his head or not as he drifted off to sleep.
A few days later it was the last meeting of the dueling club that semester. William was excited, after his stumbling around campus the other night he realized that he should just do what everyone seemed to be telling him to do and give Nick some time. Clearly there was nothing that could really be done to help him and all William could do was attempt to be there for his friend when his friend was ready to let him be.
Still, he had been hoping that Nick would show up to the last meeting of the semester. As expected when William had arrived, the room had been arranged around the central circle like it had been the previous year. Most of the students were casually sitting around drinking butterbeer, eating sandwiches, and lounging about. Hobbes, and Rosenberger were for once not sitting next to each other, and William wondered if they had already agreed to duel each other rather than risk the chance of fighting a 'werewolf'. William frowned as he got a butterbeer and settled down on one of the chairs around the room.
The sixth graders that had been attending the club finally arrived, Tall Elk divided them into teams and then rang in the new year with the sixth grade group fight. William smiled, there were six of them this year and he was hoping to see a very intense fight but instead they only flung hexes at each other until their shield walls were burst apart and they then all would crumple under one of the random hexes that came through after that. The duel ended with one sixth grader still standing while wobbling under the jelly-legs curse.
Next came the duel between Hobbes and Rosenberger, the two came forward and saluted each other then took their stances both choosing a different one from the other. Hobbes was in the second form they had learned, instead of being in the partial sitting position of the first stance you brought your back, close and almost flush with your front leg which gave you a smaller profile but also made it much harder to maneuver. Rosenberger on the other hand had gone with the fourth stance, she seemed to be crouched down like a baseball player with her wand carefully cocked on her side. William could tell that the older students were obviously impressed, and Clark was smiling from her position on the side of the field. She had explained at later sessions that while all five forms were accepted in dueling, you rarely saw people use more than the first one because it was the most common and offered a very solid over all performance. William watched as Tall Elk watched neutrally before telling them to begin.
Both opened up with a standard back and forth of spells, trying to disable or disarm the other with the standard spells that they had been drilled upon by Clark. Each began to circle the other as they threw up their shield charms. Already the problems with their chosen forms were becoming highlighted. Hobbes was having trouble stepping around the circle, while Rosenberger was more often than not dodging and reseting her stance than counter-attacking. Eventually Hobbes took his chance standing still while Rosenberger jumped away from one of his spells, springing up in a smooth jump from her ready position only to suddenly get slammed hard with a jelly legs curse so that when she tried to right herself she fell over entirely. The crowd clapped, but William could see a slight look of disappointment on Clark's face to see one of her students be taken down with such a simple spell.
Without another seventh grader to duel William was unsure if he'd have to fight one of the other seventh graders or get to duel at all. As he stood up, Clark looked over at Tall Elk and the old teacher turned to the assembled eighth graders and asked, "Would anyone like to volunteer to duel with Mr. Fraser?"
The group hesitated for a brief moment, most of them had paired off already for their big chance to spar with each other. But then one of the older students stepped forward, a few of the unpaired students breathed a sigh of relief as the lean wiry student stepped forward and shook their lengthening auburn hair about. The young man gave a wolfish smile and said, "I think it would be fun."
William was unfamiliar with the other student, but he saw that Clark had a very amused look on her face and she nodded her head at Tall Elk as William stepped into the ring. The older boy swaggered into the ring and offered a paltry salute to William. William returned with a crisp and clean salute to the older student. The older boy took the first position, settling into the well respected and world renowned standard of dueling stances. William stretched his arms out a little before settling into the third form, which was just to stand a little crouched with your feet a little bit farther than shoulder width apart and your wand carefully tapping on your side. William had found that it felt the most comfortable to his fighting style within the past semester, he preferred quick stable movement, and an ability to counter attack when he had the chance. William knew that he wanted to play to his strengths in this duel since he had been counting on knowing at least a little something about his opponent in this duel. All William knew before Tall Elk told them to begin was that he could see Clark smiling at his choice of stance, the third was her favored form as well.
As soon as Tall Elk called out, "Begin!" The older student let out a garbled yell, but William recognized the spell and without even thinking he moved forward while shouting his shield charm. There was a beautiful crash of light, and the older student looked simply surprised. William called out a quick hex and then ducked to the right as quickly as he could. The older student caught the hex with a shield spell but then quickly shuffled to reorient himself to his target once more calling out the same disarming spell he had used before.
William ducked and rolled away calling out a quick but simple tripping hex on the older student. As he shuffled to reorient himself again he fell over. The problems of the first form rested in a reliance on stable balance and a strong defense that allowed for quick counter attacks and opportunistic assaults. William realized though by the simple surprise from the older student, that he chose the form because it was expected of him. His dueling relied on the quick overwhelming disarm he used at the beginning, faster than most people would be expected but William was used to bullies who took cheap shots and sucker punches. William let loose several jinxes one after the other as he zig zagged to and past the eighth grader who was still struggling for balance. William skidded to a halt at the edge of the circle and dropped to a knee as the older boy wobbled and called out another spell aimed for William's chest but hitting the magical barrier behind him. William launched up in a leap as another shot smashed into the ground and let loose his own disarming spell which connected with the older student. As William landed and breathed a sigh of relief hoping he had bested the boy at his own game he suddenly realized that he still didn't have the hang of the more advanced spell as the boy then called out, "Expelliarmus!" With his wand held in a white knuckle grip in his hand. William moved to swing his hand up for a shield charm but just wasn't fast enough, his wand arm got hit and his wand went spinning out of his hand and into the ground. The duel was called over, and the older boy wiped sweat off his brow.
William picked up his wand and they saluted in unison, while William was somewhat upset that he had lost the match, he suddenly realized that when he saluted the older boy actually made eye contact and nodded as opposed to the very informal and off the cuff salute of before. They left the circle and both collapsed down on opposite benches, people patting them on the back and handing them food and butterbeer. William smiled leaning his head back against the cool stone.
Clark settled down next to him and said, "Quite impressive there squirt."
William laughed a bit, and said, "Was it?"
Clark nodded, "He's considered the best duelist in his grade, but he does it with quick spells and a bit of finesse rather than good strategy like you have." She smiled, "Shame you didn't win but that's more because of inexperience than anything else Fraser." She ruffled his hair and then said, "You've got the makings of a fine duelist Fraser, you should be proud."
William nodded, "Yeah, I know, but I wish that Nick had been here."
Clark shrugged, "I'm sure he'll sort things out soon, Tall Elk seems to think he'll be ok. You probably shouldn't worry, if Tall Elk's not worried you definitely shouldn't be."
"Really?" William asked staring up at the older girl.
"Tall Elk is one of the better wizards around William and he knows about things like this," Clark explains, "If he doesn't consider something worth worrying over, you probably shouldn't."
William nodded, "I guess."
The duels had been passing relatively quickly now. They were all mostly just quick shots of various spells, a little bit of footwork and then eventually one hex won out over another and down went one of the duelists. "Tall Elk tells me," Clark explained, "That the way I duel, and the way you duel, cause you seem to duel like me, is more realistic."
William turned to look at Clark, she was carefully watching every movement and step in the duels, "How do you mean?"
"He says it reminds him of how he trained Marshals to fight," Clark explained in a somewhat far-away voice, her attention actually wrapped up in the duels. "Tall Elk figures it has to do with having actual experience with combat."
William shook his head, "But I don't know anything about..."
Clark had broken her attention to look squarely at him, "William, it's no secret that there's a pair of assholes who shoot spells at you and bully you. It's why Tall Elk invited you to the club in the first place."
William nodded, "I guess." He then paused and stared up at Clark, "But wait how do you know about..."
She smiled patted him on the head, "Maybe I'll tell you later, I'm up." As they had been watching the fights William had only just barely noticed that it had progressed to the senior duels. Clark was the last one, last year she had dueled one of the people in the year ahead of her, this time it was one of her fellow seniors who had the pleasure. As she approached the ring, she cracked her neck and took off her thick leather dueling jacket and dropped it down on the ground next to the circle as she stepped in. Her opponent was in full dueling uniform, he was a tall and muscular young man with chiseled features and slick dark black hair. The pair saluted and then fell into their stances, Clark's opponent fell into the second form while Clark settled into the third.
They began to slowly circle each other, William knew that the older students sparred several times a week which meant they were even more familiar with each other than anyone else. Each of them was slowly watching the other for a change, Clark's opponent then slipped from the second form to the first as he began to shuffle and maneuver about the ring. Clark stayed carefully pacing through the ring in her usual stance, waiting and watching. As her opponent made another side step she launched her assault. Clark suddenly swung low and down rolling across the ground as she called out at least one spell and then followed up with a string of unspoken jinxes. The young man immediately started blocking them though a few boils burst across his thighs, and he was suddenly laughing uncontrollably. As Clark moved about him, the young man waved his wand over himself and the laughing stopped, as he hurled a ball of light toward Clark. She waved her wand in a broad arc and the ball rebounded into the ward that encircled the dueling pair. As the young man called out another set of spells, Clark rushed forward calling forth a spell as she did. The air around her become a solid block of silver like a massive wedge as she ran headlong into the barrage of spells. Her opponent panicked as he looked for an exit, suddenly Clark dropped her shield and let out a stunner at point blank range. Suddenly the older boy went flying and Clark shouted a disarming spell and a cushioning spell causing her opponent's wand to fly into her hand while his body landed on an invisible cushion. The whole dueling club burst into cheers, as Tall Elk offered a small clap. After that last duel, the party quickly died down as Tall Elk left, and students slowly made their way out discussing their upcoming mid-terms and their plans for the winter break.
William eventually left alone, realizing that he would just have to accept that his best friend was no longer his best friend. William clambered up the stairs, wrapping himself up in the thick black cloak he had recovered a few nights ago. William marched through the snow, thinking about his upcoming midterms, he was fairly certain that he would do fine in them perhaps a little better than he had on his finals last year. Still the thought that he had been able to apply himself to his classes more this semester made him frown because he had done it at the expense of losing a good friend, and losing track of his roommate. William sighed as he marched across the campus, the semester was practically over, and he was practically alone.