The unusual event that the trio had witnessed the previous day in the streets of Diagon Alley ended up being front page news in the Daily Prophet. MAN VIOLENTLY ATTACKS BYSTANDERS ON DIAGON ALLEY! The headline read. And beneath that, in slightly smaller letters: SPELL? CURSE? OR FRIGHTENING NEW DISEASE?
Curious to know more about it, the trio took the paper after Lucius was finished with it, scanning the details of the article. They did not end up discovering anything particularly illuminating. The man had been a muggleborn, living quite comfortably in wizarding society for decades (unlike numerous other muggleborns who often returned to the muggle world.) He had been unmarried, but had numerous friends, and coworkers thought well of him. There had been an odd orange rash on his lower back that the researchers in St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries was still investigating.
On the second page of the newspaper, there had been an article about over-excited women and Gilderoy Lockhart's book signing in Diagon Alley, but the trio cared nothing about that (though Callidus may have silently snickered as he imagined Hermione being one of those over-excited women.) The three of them might have put the strange incident in Diagon Alley behind them, but because of the particular tensions that were arising in the wizarding world, the issue could not be so easily forgotten. Public perception towards muggles had steadily been becoming more negative. Callidus could not help thinking about some of the things that Caiside had told him: how some wizards and witches were engaging in muggle baiting, or how various towns and villages were feeling an increasing sense of animosity towards muggles. It was no surprise then, that this negative attitude towards muggles would eventually extend towards muggleborns.
The Daily Prophet, which spuriously claimed to be an unbiased source of information did not ever actually print any articles laying blame on muggleborns. Something like that would have stretched the credulity of too many of their readers. The Prophet did, however, post opinion pieces, and other articles that often painted muggleborns in a negative light. It was maddening enough that Callidus was tempted to stop read the paper although. To make matters more aggravating, Draco acted as though the papers were perfectly justified in reporting the information that they did.
It was with a sense of relief when a few days later, Callidus and Harry were packed up to leave for Hogwarts, where they would stay for the rest of the summer holidays. The outcry related to the attack in Diagon Alley was finally dying down, and hopefully the rest of the summer could be enjoyed in peace. Callidus and Harry travelled by floo, arriving in Professor McGonagall's office in Hogwarts. Professor Slughorn may have been their Head of House, but he was not spending his summer at the school. As for Professor Dumbledore, he may have been at the school, but the headmaster was a busy man. Thus, the responsibility for the boys rested largely on McGonagall's shoulders, though at twelve, the boys felt old enough to take care of themselves.
"Welcome back, Mr. Potter. Hello, Mr. Prince," Professor McGonagall greeted them, her expression stern, but at the same time, somehow warm.
"Hullo, Professor!" Harry smiled brightly while Callidus gave her a polite nod.
"Should we take our belongings down to the dungeon?" Callidus gestured towards their trunks.
"Merlin, no!" McGonagall answered. "There are a set of spare rooms that have been transfigured for your needs for the rest of the summer."
Harry leaned over to Callidus and whispered: "She doesn't want to go all the way down to the dungeons to have to check on us."
Callidus wasn't sure of what to make of that. A part of him felt a bit affronted. Did McGonagall lump him and Harry in the same category as the Weasleys, or something? Neither Callidus nor Harry would ever be so unruly as to damage or destroy anything in the Slytherin dungeons. But Callidus did not protest. He was curious enough about their temporary lodgings.
Callidus's and Harry's new rooms were close to Professor McGonagall's office. It was probably a converted classroom, but it had a nice set of four poster beds (in neutral shades of beige and brown), and they had their own bathroom. There was a large window from which the Quidditch pitch could be seen. It was actually rather nice.
"Be aware that curfew still applies," Professor McGonagall informed them. "I won't have you two running around Hogwarts at all hours of the night. It's a privilege for you to be able to stay here over the summers, and I expect both of you to respect that."
"Yes, Professor," the boys replied dutifully. McGonagall left them to unpack and settle in. When that was taken care of, Harry looked over at Callidus.
"What do you feel like doing?"
Callidus tilted his head in thought. Last summer, he had spent his time at Hogwarts exploring and reading (but mostly reading). Then again, last summer, he was still grieving the loss of Lily. He felt a sharp pang in his heart at the recollection. He still missed her, but at least he had many new friends now.
Callidus shrugged. "What have you been doing while you were here?" Since Harry had only needed to stay with his muggle relatives for two weeks, he had already been at Hogwarts for a while.
"Looked for secret passages. Flew around the Quidditch pitch, but the brooms here aren't as nice as Draco's. Erm - tried to learn some new spells that might be useful for pranking. What should we do for pranks this year, anyway? Remember what the Weasley twins said?"
Callidus hummed thoughtfully. "This will require some research." Harry scrunched up his face at the thought of research.
"I didn't necessarily mean in the library," Callidus clarified. "The more of Hogwart's secrets that we can learn, the better. And should we try another school-wide prank, or target someone in particular?"
"I wouldn't feel right about targeting a single person," Harry mused. "It should be something fun, that'll make everyone laugh."
Callidus couldn't help but smile. Harry still seemed too nice for a Slytherin. If Draco were here, he'd probably be suggesting the most humiliating types prank possible.
"Maybe we should try and make something this year," Harry continued. "We could try and make our own joke-items, like the Weasleys do."
"It might involve magic that's more advanced than our current skill level."
Harry shrugged and grinned. "I'm willing to learn, for the sake of pranking."
"It's actually a good idea. It would make for an interesting project." Callidus thought about Caiside's exploding seed pods, and how much of an advantage it could be to have offencive tools without relying on one's wand. He was liking the whole concept more and more. "We should do it. Any ideas?"
Harry hummed. "You know how we saw that bloke going all nutters and attacking people on Diagon Alley?"
"What about him?"
"What if we had something that could have calmed him down, without hurting the people around him?"
"Do you have something in mind?"
Harry nodded. "You know how muggles have things like tear gas or laughing gas? What if we make something similar. Like, a magical equivalent. Sort of like a dungbomb, but instead of making things smell like dung, it makes people friendly."
"Hmm." Callidus considered the notion. It had a lot of possibilities. He had never considered potions administration via gas form - such a thing would have held immense risks because gasses were so difficult to control. Was it doable? He didn't see why not. In fact, the idea was incredibly intriguing. He hadn't given much thought to what kind of potions projects he wanted to attempt this year, and now he had an interesting avenue of possible research.
"That's a really good idea, Harry."
Harry brightened. "You think so?"
Callidus nodded. "Definitely. In terms of making people friendly - the basis of that could be something like a love potion, but milder, and more generalized. The question is whether we can create the potion in gas form. Or - hm. I wonder if there is a way to create vessel that perhaps vapourizes the potion, dispersing the liquid as a gas. Potions can be highly reactive to their vessels. Perhaps we could magically alter the phials themselves to turn them into vapourizers when properly triggered. This has a lot of possibilities. We should go to the library."
Harry groaned.
Callidus sighed. "Fine. We can look for secret passages today. But the library really would be the best place to start if we're going to be crafting prank objects."
Harry beamed happily. They spent the next few hours wandering parts of the castle that they were less familiar with. The castle seemed to have a lot of unused classrooms. Perhaps, before the previous wizarding war, there had been more school children, and the castle had been fuller. But now, much of it stood empty. They didn't manage to find any secret passages, but they did find a hidden room and spoke to a chatty portrait that claimed that the way into the Hogwarts kitchens involved tickling a pear. The hidden room seemed to have a masochistic streak and only opened its door under coercion and insults. As for the mystery of the kitchens, Callidus didn't know what to believe.
When their energy began to flag, Callidus attempted convince Harry that the library would be a good place to relax.
"Madam Pince doesn't spend her summers at Hogwarts," Callidus pointed out. "And yes, the chairs are hard, but we can just use a cushioning charm. Seeing as you're pretty much a master at creating cushioning charms, that shouldn't be a problem."
Harry snickered. "I s'pose that considering I managed to save your life with a cushioning charm, I am pretty good at them, aren't I?"
"I bow to your greater knowledge, wise master." Callidus performed a smooth bow.
"It's too bad we can't just transfigure the chairs into beds," Harry sighed. "Or at least a soft, cushy sofa."
"I imagine that the library would be the ideal place to find the transfiguration spell you need to turn a chair into a bed."
Harry rolled his eyes. "Fine. You know what? I'm going to do it. I'm going to learn to turn a chair into a sofa."
Callidus smirked. "Of course." What mattered was that Harry was agreeing to join him in the library.
In the end, Callidus ended up taking several books with him back to their shared chambers, rather than remaining in the library. Harry had, indeed, attempted to transfigure a chair into a soft sofa, but after setting one of the chairs on fire, Callidus decided that library really wasn't the ideal location for letting Harry pratice spells. At least in their chambers, they weren't at risk of creating an inferno that would burn down centuries and centuries of knowledge.
The four poster beds at Hogwarts might not have been as soft and luxurious as the ones at Malfoy manor, but Callidus went to bed that night feeling warm and contented. He liked spending time with Draco, but he also liked having the chance to have Harry to himself. Draco could be so demanding of Harry's attention. While it was true that Draco provided amusing company, Callidus did find him a bit tiring - especially once Draco started prattling about himself. He wasn't sure how Harry put up with it so well.
Though sleep came easily that night, Callidus's rest was disrupted by the sound of rustling and moaning. It was still pitch black outside, and Callidus couldn't even guess what time it was. He wondered if he had just been awoken by random castle noises from this unfamiliar room, when heard the moaning again. It was Harry. Was his friend having bad dreams?
Callidus wasn't sure of what to do. When he had shared a bed with Harry in Malfoy manor, Harry usually slept pretty well. Sometimes, he would feel the other boy tossing or turning, and occasionally, Harry would mumble in his sleep. But whatever Harry was dreaming about seemed to be more troubling than usual because the other boy kept flinging his arms and legs restlessly, making unhappy sounds. Should Callidus wake him? Would that be weird?
Callidus shifted onto his side, and tried to go back to sleep, but Harry wouldn't stop moving and moaning. Perhaps it would be a good idea to make sure his friend was all right. Pulling his covers aside, Callidus lit the tip of his wand with a dim lumos spell and crept to the side of his friend's bed.
"Harry?" There seemed to be no reaction, except that Harry furrowed his brow.
"Harry!" Callidus spoke a bit louder this time, reaching out to touch his friend's shoulder. With a jerk, Harry jolted awake, causing Callidus to flinch back.
"Cal? What the hell?! Get that damn light out of my face!" Harry hissed, sounding angrier than Callidus had ever heard him before. "What's your problem? Why did you wake me? I was so close to to figuring it all out! I was so close to knowing the chamber's secrets! Just - arg! Don't Ever wake me again, got that?"
"I - I apologize," Callidus said stiffly. "I'll leave you to your rest then."
Harry just made a disgruntled noise, turning his back on Callidus and throwing the covers over his head. When Callidus climbed back into his bed, it took a long time for him to fall back asleep.
The following morning, Callidus was guarded and uneasy around Harry, but his friend seemed to be back to normal. They had changed into their robes and were making their way to the Great Hall for breakfast. Harry was chattering about some new prank suggestions, and about spells he wanted to learn. It wasn't until they were seated and half-way finished eating breakfast that Harry noticed Callidus's subdued manner.
"Cal? Is everything all right? You seem quieter than usual."
"Is everything all right with you?" Callidus threw the question back.
Harry's expression was perplexed. "With me? Why wouldn't things be all right?"
"You flew off the handle last night when I woke you."
"I - what? I did?" Harry's wrinkled his face as he tried to recall. "I remember having some interesting dreams. If I said something to you, I didn't mean it."
"You don't remember me waking you?" Callidus's expression was incredulous.
Harry shook his head. "Not really, no. Could I have been sleep talking? You said you've heard me talk in my sleep before, yeah?"
"It didn't particularly sound like sleep talking."
Harry frowned. "I don't know how else to explain it. What did I say?"
"You got really mad at me. You told me not to wake you again. And something about secrets. And a chamber? Were you dreaming about that room we found yesterday?"
Harry hummed. "I don't think so. All I can remember was seeing a really big stone head. Weird, huh? But maybe all this talk about finding secret passages is affecting my dreams."
"Perhaps that's what it is."
"I didn't mean to upset you." Harry was starting to look a bit guilty.
"Nevermind it. I imagine I'm making something out of nothing. It isn't a big deal."
"Hm. All right then."
Their conversation was disrupted by the sight of an unfamiliar owl, which dropped a letter on top of Callidus's eggs. Picking up the folded parchment, and wiping off the bits of eggs with mild irritation, Callidus checked the front of the letter to see who it was from.
"Who wrote you?" Harry questioned. "That doesn't look like the parchment that Draco or Hermione uses."
Callidus broke into a smile when he read the name of the sender. "It's Wystan. I haven't heard from him all summer. I was beginning to think he forgot me."
Harry's smile echoed Callidus's. "Really? What does he have to say?"
Callidus broke upon the seal, and unfolded the letter.
Hello Callidus, it began in Wystan's neat but pointy scrawl,
How has your summer hols been? Knowing what I know of you, I can't decide if your idea of a break would involve getting away from the potions lab, or spending more time in the potions lab. I have a feeling that it's probably the latter. Do you even have access to a lab over the summers? Because now I'm starting to imagine you deprived of your beloved lab, and it creates a sad, sad picture. Maybe you'll find a girlfriend, like me! Go have yourself a summer fling. Calypso says 'hi.' We're doing well, by the way. Slowly and steadily, she's succumbing to my irresistible charms. Here, the handwriting seemed to change into a loopy, rounded small text that said: Ha! Yeah right. He wishes. Don't ever ask him for relationship advice, Callidus!
The writing changed back to the pointy scrawl. See? Tight as ever. Anyhow, things have been pretty busy with me. I started up that advocacy group I was telling you about. We (myself and the other organizers) decided to call it FLAME, which stands for 'Freedom to Learn: Association of Magical Encompassment.' I admit, it's a bit unwieldy, but believe me, our other ideas were much more awkward. Don't even ask. We'll be focusing on gaining awareness for types of magic that have been swept under the rug, due to the label of being Dark. We have quite a number of supporters and backers, so we'll also be funding our own research too.
I've been speaking to some of my friends (and yes, Callidus, they are my friends, not just a bunch of people I collect,) and they'll be starting up a club at Hogwarts called ARMED (Association of Rare Magic Education & Development.) You're going to join right? Of course you are. You could never resist knowledge, could you? Some of my friends will be donating books and grimoires to the cause. You'll have to speak to Euphemia Rowle about it. She'll know more. You could speak to Gabriel Truman as well, but Slytherins tend to have certain, better connections, if you know what I mean.
Let me know if you happen to make any new and interesting discoveries. Actually, let me know if there's any new and interesting things happening at Hogwarts too! The handwriting changed again to that rounded script. He means juicy gossip! He's such a hen!
The handwriting returned to the pointy scrawl. Hope to hear from you soon.
Your friend,
Wystan Overcliff (and in case you can't tell, Calypso contributed too!)
Callidus's feeling were mixed as he read the letter. He enjoyed hearing from Wystan, and was amused by Calypso's comments. On the other hand, he was fairly certain that Calypso was the person who had been attacking him in first year. True, she didn't hurt him in the end, and true, he couldn't exactly fully remember that last encounter. He simply couldn't like Calypso wholeheartedly. And yet, he wanted Wystan to be happy.
Callidus handed the letter over to Harry to read. When Harry finished the letter, he looked amused but thoughtful.
"So, we're going to be joining this new club?" Harry asked.
"I suppose so. It sounds interesting."
Harry hummed. "I just realized that with Wystan gone, we don't have anyone to head up the Slytherin faction of the duelling club. Do you think Flitwick will continue it this year?"
Callidus shrugged. "I don't see why not. Either way, I think there would be a lot of advantages to joining ARMED, as Wystan calls it. Hogwarts' library is impressive, but it is lacking in certain areas."
A look of mischief appeared on Harry's face. "This could be what we need to gain an edge over the Weasleys. I say we should join!"
Callidus smirked. "Glad we agree."
A/N: I appreciate the reviews! :)
I find it hard to feel motivation to write when I'm busy with school stuff. It makes me want to do nothing but read instead