The welcoming feast was as nice as ever. You could say whatever you wanted about slave labor and house elves, but damn, the little dudes know how to cook. He didn't even have to remember some Jambalaya for himself. Somehow, there was a plate just for him. Good stuff.
The headmaster had given them the typical welcome back speech, with the added little touch of "there are incredibly dangerous creatures roaming around, beware" for good measure. To be fair, it wasn't the most outlandish warning he had ever given; that was their first-year one, and last year there was another incredibly dangerous creature in the castle, so it wasn't all that rare, all things considered.
They were currently walking towards the Raven's tower, slightly behind the first years. Sure, they had the prefects to guide them, but they knew exactly how tricky the castle could be.
"God, I'm so excited!" He couldn't help himself; he really was.
"Tomorrow is our first day of classes, why on earth would you be excited?" Mike asked.
"Are you kidding? Who cares about classes? We are getting our own rooms! I spent more time prepping up for this than working. Not that it was much work, I mean, chatting up pretty tourists is its own reward, but you know what I mean."
There was a small pause, with both Mike and Terry sharing uncomprehending stares.
"Not a clue."
"What are you talking about?"
He looked at both of them; they looked like they genuinely didn't know.
"About our private rooms? You know, now that we are third years," he clarified.
His clarification didn't spark any sort of understanding in any of them, though; quite the contrary, they looked even more lost than before.
"I'm afraid to ask, but where did you hear we'd be getting our own rooms? As far as I know, the only ones who get private rooms are the head boy and head girl."
"I heard one of the ghosts talking about it…?" he confessed.
"That's... even weirder. Are you sure?"
"Wait, you thought you were getting your own room?" Mike said, laughing at his nod. "Oh, that's precious."
"You're telling me I'm not, then?" he asked, his tone of voice deceivingly calm.
"It's not the norm, no. You could always ask Professor Flitwick. There are certainly a number of spare ones you could have; I just don't see a reason why you'd want to," Terry said.
"I dunno, I just like having my own space, I suppose," he shrugged. "Besides, I'm turning fourteen in a couple of weeks. It'd be nice to have a place to, you know, get to know someone."
"You see, that's the type of reasoning I can get behind," Mike added. "In the very probable case that you don't get your own room, and assuming broom closets are not good enough, you could always repurpose an abandoned classroom."
"I thought about that too, actually. The problem is that, with Hogwarts being Hogwarts, my classroom would relocate itself at random, and I'm not about to go around looking for it. That means I'd have to research ways to keep it at one fixed place, some way to make it private or hard for anyone else to access, and that's besides all that's involved in making it nice enough to not feel ashamed to show it off."
"That's a lot of work," Terry said. He sounded somewhat interested. "Especially for something so unnecessary. You're thirteen, act like it."
"No need to prude out on us. I'm sure you'll get there with Susie someday. And it won't be just for that. I mean, I want a personal space for my stuff too. I haven't been able to paint since Mike threw that tantrum last year."
"Not a tantrum! You left your paints all over the floor. Not only that, you didn't let the house elves clean them up. I ruined four pairs of socks and a robe!"
"Yeah, well, you don't see Terry complaining."
"His bed was on the other side of the room. He didn't have to deal with it."
"Yeah? And how come we have to deal with your perfumes? You have like a dozen of them. My head hurts from sheer sensory overload just thinking about them," he fired back.
"...Terry's books invaded both our desks!" Mike pointed out.
"Nice deflection," Tony said. "But you're right. Last year I could barely use my desk. I mean, who needs that many books anyway?"
Terry sighed. "Okay, I see your point. It would be nice to have more space. I don't think Professor Flitwick would let you have your own room, though, not for that reason, and definitely not if the rest of the tower learns about it. You know how he gets with precedents now."
"I still can't believe Padma managed that. I mean, Edgcombe is not the sharpest, but she still has a good head over her shoulders. To outbully her, she has to know some nasty curses."
"Okay, so I'm missing something, huh?" Mike said.
"Oh! Right, you were petrified for that," it was still a little surreal, to be honest. Mike had apparently seen the 'Beast of Slytherin' last year. Thankfully, he had started carrying his compact mirror everywhere. Who could have thought that vanity would save his life? "What happened was that, and this is all hearsay because I didn't take the time looking through the memories of the girls involved, Parvati started bullying Edgcombe. You know, wavy blond hair, hangs around with Chang?"
"I know who she is," of course, he'd know of her, she was pretty.
"Right, she was bullying Lovegood," this time he looked lost, "tiny, blonde hair, big eyes, bit of an airhead?"
"Ah, Loone—"
"Nope, we are not calling her that. She's not crazy, believe me, I checked. She had an accident when she was small, but she's all there," he said, pointing at his head. "So, apparently Edgcombe was bullying Lovegood, Padma took exception to that and fired right back at her. Someone ratted her out to Flitwick, presumably Chang. Now, get this, when the professor tried to chastise her, she said that since he allowed Lovegood to be bullied, she should be allowed to bully Edgcombe. Of course, she said it better; her parents are lawyers. Thing is, thanks to that, the professor has been very, and I mean very, careful in what he allows to happen. Setting precedent, as it were."
"Just from that?" Mike asked. "It feels too small for such a big reaction." He must have noticed their looks. "I'm not saying bullying is not important," he defended. "But I did see Lovegood eating half an hour ago; she doesn't seem to be maimed or permanently damaged. It must have been emotionally distressing, sure, but she's alive. So, again, it feels too big of a reaction."
"It is," added Terry. "There are other factors, I believe. The professor took a very careful look at the upper years. There was something fishy going on with some of the boys and girls, according to what I heard. Lockhart was involved. Besides, this was the first time since he assumed the head of house position that any type of violent inner-house conflict had occurred."
"I see," Mike nodded.
"Back on topic, I don't think he'd allow you to have your own room. The risk of everyone asking for one would be too much."
"Why would it be risky?"
"Precisely for the reasons you want one, I suppose. I don't think he'd like to deal with all the nonsense associated with teenagers, hormones, and bad decision-making."
"Hmmm," he was not wrong. He hated it, but he was not wrong. "I think I'll ask anyway. Worst come to worst, I'll..." Actually, this didn't have to be a bad thing.
"Oh, uh. He's got an idea," Terry said.
"Please don't ask him what it is."
"Thanks for asking, Mike. I appreciate it." He stopped walking; the grand eagle was in sight, and the first-years had already entered. "How would you guys feel about expanding our room?"
The first one to react was Michael.
"How much will this cost us?" he asked, which was fair. If you wanted something to last, especially enchantments, you needed gold.
"Not a dime," he could charge them some type of construction fee or something, but if he wanted to sell the idea, he might as well do it for free. He had all he needed with him anyways.
"Are you sure you can do it?" Terry asked.
"Absolutely. As I said, I prepped up."
They looked dubious. He could sweeten the pot a little, perhaps. "I can even teach you a couple of tricks I picked up. It will help you two add some furniture to the room."
"I'm all for it," Terry said.
"We could have gotten more out of him," Mike protested.
"I know. That's why I decided to jump in," he explained. "You've been acting off lately. Is everything okay?"
"Huh, so I wasn't imagining it. I thought he was being weirdly transactional."
"It's been going for a bit. I thought he was getting a tad antsy to get back, but…"
"It's… complicated," he said. "I don't want to talk about it here," he said, looking around. He had a point. Walls have ears, especially in Hogwarts.
"At least we've got confirmation," Tony said. "We on for the remodeling then? 'Cause I've gotta tell you, I might not be getting my own room in the tower, but I am getting my own room at the tower."
"If you're sure we can do it, then yes, I'm all for it," Terry said, with Mike nodding along.
"Oh ye of little faith. Of course I can. I tried it in my bedroom. It was kind of fun."
"Let me rephrase, are we allowed to? Let's forget about the dangers for now. I'm fairly sure expansion charms are, while not illegal, heavily controlled. I think we'd have to get at least some form of permit first."
"Permit shmermit," he waved. "We're doing it tonight. I doubt the professor would even notice. He'd have to walk inside and physically measure every corner, if I do it right, that is."
"We're never getting out of detention, are we?" Mike lamented.
Tony resumed walking. "Oh, relax, will you? No one is even going to notice."
Of course, that was a lie. If he was planning on eventually getting himself a girlfriend, assuming that Terry would eventually invite Susie too, and whatever poor girl Mike could convince to be with him, there would be a couple of people who would notice. Hopefully, no one who'd care enough to rat them out.
He pulled the ring to wake up the common room's guardian. He had to admit, after two years, the riddle to enter and all the theatrics associated with it had gone stale. He was half tempted to modify the charm. Maybe he'd make anyone trying to enter dance or something.
The animated eagle spoke, "I speak without a mouth and hear without ears. I have no body, but I come alive with wind. What am I?"
He rolled his eyes. "An echo," he said. He really had no patience for this.
"You could at least let us try."
"Speak for yourself, mate. I couldn't care less."
They had barely made it to the common room when someone called out his name. He gestured for Mike and Terry to move along. This looked like it would take time; he just knew it.
"Penny," he nodded in greeting. "Congratulations," he said, gesturing at her new badge. Making it to Head Girl was a big deal. It opened a lot of doors, especially for a half-blood. "What can I help you with?"
"I…" she looked around. Whatever she wanted to say was private enough to gesture for him to follow her. Odd but not overly worrying. "Come, this might be a little complicated to explain." Penny was a good girl, his first crush even. Of course, said crush had died a horrible death when he learned of her relationship with the boring Weasley. But she had helped him out on a few occasions. Whatever she needed, he'd at least hear her out.
They walked up the stairs for a bit, to a place he had never even noticed. He was sure some form of enchantment was at play, but he didn't really care enough to find out. They eventually made it through a very ornate door, a clear statement of the high position of the one who would occupy it.
"So, this is the Head Girl's room, huh? Looks nice," he said, pacing around. It was obvious she had not yet made it her own. The decorations were too generic for her, but it was big enough, he supposed.
"Quite," she nodded. "My, you've grown. You're almost as tall as Percy now." She was fussing around him. "Your hair is getting long. Are you planning to grow it out?" she asked, finally taking a seat in an overly ornate chair.
"I do, in fact, plan to," he said. "Now, as much as I love small talk, and believe me, I'd love to catch up, I'm in a bit of a hurry."
She nodded. She was smart enough to know when to cut to the chase. "I need a favor."
"I was under that presumption, yes. Must be a big one if you are so guarded about it."
"It's not for me." Ah, that would do it. "It's for Percy." As much as he wanted to hate on the weasel-faced, brownnose, dimwitted pest of a guy, he had his good points. Namely, he cared for Penny. He might be a little biased, and perhaps he hasn't talked to the guy enough (he hasn't talked to him at all, to be honest), his opinion was set though and he didn't feel inclined to change it. He had promised himself to hear her out, though.
"I'm listening."
"I'm worried. I'm sure you've heard rumors about what happened last year," way better than that, he knew exactly what had happened last... ah, Ginevra then. "Well, what not many people know is that his little sister was somehow involved." Called it. "He told me she has been having nightmares, she barely sleeps, she's jumpy, mood swings. Poor thing can barely concentrate, and well, mind healers are expensive," she edged.
He raised an eyebrow. "You want me to peek into it, I assume? You do know it's illegal, right?"
"I know, and believe me, if things were different I would not ask this of you. But, well, as I said, mind healers are expensive, and I just so happen to know someone qualified enough to be one yet somehow still a student."
"Of course, that's what I get for showing off," he thought.
"Besides, something is not right. I can feel it. Percy has gotten incredibly cagey about it. Whenever I ask him what the matter is or what happened, he deflects, changes the subject, or straight up ignores it completely. Anything to keep whatever happened to himself. I'm worried."
He knew what happened, of course. He knew Ginevra was possessed last year, he knew who did it too. So it wasn't a surprise for him that Percy or indeed the whole family wanted to keep this under wraps. The headmaster had done a good job of it too.
Truth is, he hadn't done anything about it because he didn't want to get mixed up in this. It wasn't his place, and he was trying to stop messing around in other people's heads. Penny did look worried, though. This should be a good year for her. She had made it to the highest position achievable by any student. She had her NEWTS. She had enough to worry about without adding this to her plate.
He sighed, "Okay, I'll look into it. I'm sure it's nothing, but if anything weird is afoot, I'll take care of it, okay?" he promised.
He could practically see her worries melt away.
"Thank you," she said with a smile.
Man, he had to get a grasp on whatever was with him and blondes. It was pretty much the same Mike had with redheads.
"Don't mention it," he told her. "Seriously, don't mention it. I could get in serious trouble for this." Just imagining what would happen to him should anyone in the Ministry get wind of this had him wanting to pull out. They kicked up a fuss for having him here in the first place. Managing to 'prove' he was some sort of malcontent would, at best, get him banished from the country. At worst, he didn't want to imagine.
"My lips are sealed," she said. "I owe you one."
"Yeah, whatever. Look, I'ma head back, okay? I promised the guys I'd help them with something," he said, preparing himself to leave.
"Anything I should know about?" she asked.
"I'm not sure. Say, Penny, hypothetically speaking, if someone wanted to expand their room, who would he have to talk to about it?"
"Hypothetically, huh?" she raised an eyebrow. "Well, if an enterprising student were to expand the space inside their room, they would have to speak to the head of the house first. Then wait for approval. Then submit the exact specifications of the modified room. Then perform the expansion." That didn't sound like much. "Said student would also need to be at least a sixth year or have sat his or her OWLS." Never mind.
"Huh, who would have thought? Nice talking to you, gotta go. Bye!" Okay, so he wasn't that proud of his exit. Nothing he could do about it now, though.
"Be careful, okay!" he heard her say. He was already walking towards his room, though.
Thankfully, his walk from the Head Girl's room to his was undisturbed. It gave him a little time to think. Voldemort was alive somehow. Not alive alive, but some echo of his being was still mulling around, which was troublesome to say the least. Ugh, he had spent all summer avoiding that little nugget of information. Of course, someone would unearth it on his first day here.
"Not my problem," he told himself, hoping it would stay that way.
With his mood properly soured, he knocked on the door to his, well, their bedroom. He got a muffled "come in" from inside, so he stepped in. No reason not to.
"So? What was that about?"
"Michael, privacy. We've talked about this." Right, Terry always tried to curb Mike's gossipy nature.
"Don't tell me you're not interested. You remember how smitten he was last year. What if all that moping around finally worked?"
"Don't be silly. She respects herself too much for that."
"Please, she's dating Percy Weasley, not a lot of self-respect there," he pointed out.
"Point," he turned to look at Tony. "Care to enlighten us then?"
"Your young ears are not ready to hear this, I'm afraid." They really weren't. He was daily sure Voldemort was used as a scary story for them.
"Yeah... Nothing happened then. Good to know," Mike dismissed. "Are we doing the expansion thing now then?"
"I don't see why not," he shrugged. "Just so you know, this could get us into a bit of trouble, so choose who you trust carefully, yeah?"
"Absolutely."
"Yeah, yeah."
"Okay, first order of business. We step outside, come along," he told them, walking straight outside.
Once the three of them were there, he grabbed his wand and made a mental picture of what he wanted the room to become.
"Okay, so the expansion charm is, as I'm sure Terry is aware, highly controlled by the Ministry. There is a bit of a loophole if you care about the wording. They can't be used for personal purposes, but seeing as this is a room made for students, it's more like a public service, right?"
"A little flimsy but good enough for me," Mike said.
"I... am not going to bother thinking about it. It's not that big an offense."
"Mr. Boot, shame on you. What would Miss Bones think?" he joked.
"She'd probably ask us to do the same for her, if I'm honest."
"Right... So anyways, the incantation is Capacious Extremis. Now, things to keep in mind are, first of all, a good enough picture of the results. If you don't know how much you want the space to expand, the spell will not work. The second would be the place to anchor the charm. These types of spells turn dangerous because people never think hard enough on where they are anchoring them. Let's take this for example. If I anchor it to the door, the spell would die rather quickly. Wood is not great at keeping magic working. Besides, it's too easily breakable. Despite that, I'm fairly sure most people would have picked it. It's the obvious choice, right?"
They looked a little lost.
"Oh right, so for this spell to work, think of the whole room as an object. Once that is done, think about how much bigger on the inside you want that object to be compared to the outside. Then you select a place that will 'hold' the magic of the charm. You do this because if the whole place is the anchor, it becomes a bigger target to break. You break the anchor, you break the spell."
"I'm following. You're doing a shit job at explaining, but I'm following."
"Right. So the next place someone might think to use as an anchor would be the doorknob. It's made of brass, so it's fairly strong and can hold magic fairly well. It would probably keep the spell going for the better part of a decade, more if you take your time and actually inscribe the spell into it. The not-so-good side is that it's outside. Fairly easy for anyone to get their hands on. While we could protect it against tampering, that would take more time than what I'm willing to spend. So our best option would be one of the stone bricks inside the room."
"I don't think stone is good at 'holding' magic. I'm fairly certain it's even worse than wood," Terry said.
"You're not wrong," Tony acquiesced. "The stones in the castle being the exception. You see, these stones have been here, in a place full of magic, both from the place they rest and the people who inhabit it for enough time to make them basically batteries. So the charm will hold just fine, plus a little carving to reroute the magic in it, and presto, we've got a self-perpetuating enchantment. Being one amongst many, it will be hard to find it, so it's hard to tamper with it. And perhaps more importantly, it will take its destruction or the fall of at least two of the four walls to fall for the spell to fail. You can't get safer than that."
"If you say so. Go on then, we've been out here long enough. No need to raise suspicions."
"Oh, the expansion is already done," he said. "I was just explaining my thought process."
Mike rushed to the door and ran inside. Terry, of course, took a more sedated pace.
"It looks so..."
"Empty?"
"Yeah."
"Well, no shit. It's five times the size with the same amount of furniture. Of course, it'd feel empty."
"Five times?" Terry asked in disbelief.
"Yeah, I figured we might as well go for broke. Everyone gets a room, plus a common area and a bathroom."
"I suppose this is where the tricks you mentioned come into play?"
"Yep. I'll teach you both some Transfiguration shortcuts to furnish your own rooms. I mean, I can raise the walls and put on the doors, but that's it. The rest is up to you," he told them.
"Yeah, that's not going to be enough. I've never been the best at Transfiguration, and as much as I tried to catch up, you know, after being a stone for a couple of weeks, I'm still behind," Mike argued.
Terry nodded along. "I'm no better. Transfiguration is my worst subject," he shrugged. "I don't know how he expects us to transfigure furniture."
"Quick question. Remember the little mental exercise I taught you guys last Christmas?" Tony asked.
"I remember, yes. I've been doing it every night before falling asleep. Best sleep I've gotten in years," Terry said.
"Me too. Useful thing, that. Pretty sure I'd have gone bald over the summer without it."
"Nice of you to bring that up. You wanna talk about it?" Tony asked, completely abandoning his line of reasoning.
"Weren't you about to explain your 'shortcuts'?" Mike asked.
"It can wait," he said, conjuring a table and a couple of chairs. "Come on, out with it. Sounds important." Whatever surprise of his magical prowess they could have had had been washed away in the last couple of years. Now they just accepted he could do stuff, apparently. He remembered a couple of butterbeers and took a seat.
Mike followed along, taking one of the butterbeers and letting himself fall into one of the chairs. "My, uh... My father cut me off," he said.
"Cut you off as in...?" Terry asked. He too sat down, curiously examining his drink.
"No more allowances, no more shop privileges. He didn't even sign my permission slip, so no Hogsmeade either."
"Uff," that was rather drastic, especially in a society where money was a sign of status. Good old Britain was very money-oriented.
"What happened?" Terry dug further.
"We got into a fight, things blew out of proportion," Mike explained. Of course, it explained pretty much nothing, but he was trying.
"Enough to cut you off like that?" Apparently, Terry also thought it was overly harsh.
"Buddy, you have no idea," he shook his head.
"Tell us then, come on, bullet points at least," Tony encouraged.
"Tony, privacy, we've talked about this." Right, Terry always tried to curb his disregard for privacy too.
"Piss off, I wanna know."
"He's getting married," Mike said.
"Really? Good for him. What was her name again? Dominika? She was cool." He had met her last year at the station. She was nice, and her thoughts revolved around making Mike feel comfortable around her. She was okay in his book.
"That's the thing, he broke things off with her. He's been with the new woman for, like, four months." He sounded a little hurt by that. He had heard him say that she was nice. Apparently, he had actually bonded with her. Damn.
"That's not good," Tony said.
"What did you tell him?" Terry asked, real trepidation in his tone. Mike was not known for his subtle approach.
"The same thing any person using his common sense would have told him." Figures.
"Ah, let me guess," Tony said. "You told him it was too soon, that he didn't know her very well? Maybe even mentioned a prenup?"
"All of the above," Mike confirmed. "I may have said something about gold digging and the like. I'm not proud of it." He probably said more than that, but he wasn't here to interrogate his friend.
"You shouldn't, you know better. That'll only piss him off." And wasn't that the truth? He had only met Uncle last year, but it was obvious that he was raised in an old-fashioned household. That is to say, no one could question his decisions.
"Worked like a charm too, so now I'm destitute."
"I see," Terry said. "Is that why you want to go hunting spiders with Tony? You do know you don't have to, right? I'm more than happy to lend you money. I have more than enough to keep us both comfortable."
Tony sighed. "He's right, and you can count on me too."
"It's not just that," Mike said. "It's just the way he said it. He told me that all we have was his, it was his fortune, his businesses, his love life, his decisions. And he's not wrong. I... I don't like being so dependent on someone."
"Damn," Terry replied. "Come on, Mike, you're thirteen. You're supposed to be in the care of your parents. You've got years before you have to become self-sufficient."
"I know that. It doesn't mean I have to like it," he argued. "And I can start making progress now. Besides, this way I'd at least not be doing it alone. Between the three of us, I think we can become independent easily enough."
"I mean, I am going to do it either way," Tony told him. "You are more than welcome to join in."
"Can we talk about Tony's shortcut now? I think I've had enough of this gloomy shite," Mike said.
Terry looked unsure. He supposed he wanted to know more about the fight. He did too, but he didn't think Mike was ready to spill his guts just yet.
"Sure," Tony said. "Okay, where was I?"
"Your meditation exercise," Terry answered.
"Right, that little meditation exercise is actually the base of pretty much all mind-related magic," he explained. "Training your mind to go blank is in itself useful if someone ever tries to, you know, read it. But beyond that, it's a very good way to get a grasp, a... handle if you will, over your thoughts. If you can control when you think, controlling what you are thinking gets easier. Your mind is always working, random thoughts flashing through it, derailing trains of more important thoughts, a lot of white noise, songs, emotions, worries, you get the idea. A blank space allows for a peaceful environment to work in."
"And this helps in transfiguration?"
"It helps in all types of magic. All you need to do is access that state of blankness, and once there, think about what you want your magic to do, free of anything else. For transfiguration, you only have to imagine what you want and let your mind supply the examples. Of course, you could go the extra step and organize your mind. People tend to do that quite often, at least the ones who know Occlumency do."
"And you didn't think about telling us this before?" Terry asked, one eyebrow raised.
"Nah, you guys would have dropped it. It's a slow process. I introduced it to you as a form of relaxation for a reason. If you guys think that all you are getting is peace, all you would look for is peace."
"You know, I hate when you make sense."
"Believe me, you hate it more when I don't. So what do you guys think?" he said, standing up, remembering a couple of magazines, a whiteboard, and a couple of markers. "Ready to redecorate our room?"
A/N: I own nothing of the Harry Potter franchise.
