hi guys just to let ye know that if you're ever unsure about anything from the plot of my story to let me know. as long as it doesn't reveal a huge plot device I'm more than happy to clarify something ye don't understand!

After the prolonged silence of the two orphan's talk, it was eventually time for classes to begin, as it was a Friday the classes were,

9:00 Transfiguration with Gryffindor

10:30 Charms with Hufflepuff

12:00 lunch

13:00 Potions with Ravenclaw

15:00 free period

18:00 Dinner

23:00 Astronomy with Gryffindor

It wasn't a particularly packed day but it was definitely long. The best thing about double classes however is that they can only give so much homework. Gemma and Yedan were excused from being late to classes with their responsibility of escorting the first years to and from their classes for the next week to make sure they find their way around the castle. The transfiguration room was on the third floor so it was a five-minute walk to reach it from the dungeons. Once all the first years were outside the door the prefects bid them goodbye and headed off to their own class.

The Slytherins made their way inside the horrendous decorated room, Ailill had a face so terror-struck some of the Gryffindors started to snigger in gaiety. The only redeeming feature of the room was the gorgeous bird with feathers like fire twittering a beautiful tune. Dumbledore stood at the top of the room surveying the incoming students and the ones currently sitting down. When he caught sight of Ailill's face he couldn't help but also chuckle in merriment.

"Are you okay Mr Peverell?" He asked with no little mirth. "You seem to be feeling a particularly strong emotion from the look on your face."

"Ah, good morning to you professor," Ailill said, voice weak with aversion. "I must ask if your stylist is perhaps your room decorator as well?"

"..." Albus smoothed down the front of his blue robes. "Perhaps they are."

"Well then I must simply have a talk with them, I also see you're wearing blue. They look wonderful on you, much nicer at bringing out your eyes."

If the scene was taken out of context many would think Ailill was trying to hit on the man but alas everyone could simply tell the boy deeply abhorred the professor's choice in clothing colours.

"And what," the teacher asked. "Would you recommend to my stylist concerning my room?"

"Not velvet walls for sure," Ailill snarked lightheartedly. "Especially not with a bird of fire, are they trying to bring the room up in flames?"

"Who knows."

"Certainly not them," Ailill murmured as he sat down next to Tom at the front of the room.

"Well, class, lovely to meet you all. My name is Professor Dumbledore and for the next several years of schooling, we will be learning the art of transfiguration. Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts. Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not come back. I will simply not have your messing around endanger not only yourself but the students around you." Stern blue eyes twinkled over glasses. "Am I understood?"

A series of "Yes, sir." rang around the room.

"The bird you see in this room is Fawkes who is a phoenix, I implore you not to approach him and instead let him come to you. Phoenix creatures are extremely rare and intelligent, classified as dangerous as well should they feel threatened."

A chirp sang through the room and the bird leaped off his perch and circled the room before making a sharp dive and landing on Ailill's shoulder. The bird stared at the boy with startling intensity.

"If he bites me I'm having chicken for dinner," Ailill warned, choking a laugh out of Tom on his right. Fawkes gave a shrill and fluttered his wings in displeasure, "Well then don't bite me!"

"Seems like Fawkes has taken a liking to you Mr Peverell," Dumbledore said.

"How could he not?" Ailill responded in kind while petting the majestic creature.

"Hmm," the man said. "Now, transfiguration is about intent and visualisation, theory, while it does help, is not the ends all, you need strong intent to fuel your whims of magic in this class. This will get easier with time, for our first class we will be going over the transfiguration alphabet. If I feel like this class has done sufficiently, maybe nearing the end of class we can try turning a match stick into a needle. How does that sound?"

The heightened enthusiasm from the promise of doing physical magic made the children put in more effort than they more than likely would have, the alphabet was tricky enough with more symbols than letters. Ailill got it pretty quickly and then let Tom use him as a wall to bounce his learning practices off of. Dumbledore could see after about five minutes into the self-study of the alphabet two Slytherins were working together or that's what it looked like but looking closer the man could see that Ailill hadn't said a word in the whole time the two started. Concerned, Dumbledore wandered over to the two and watched as Tom Riddle was firing out the names of the symbols, only stopping to correct himself before starting again.

"Young Slytherin, why don't you let Mr Peverell have a go?"

"Huh?" Tom asked, confused. "But he already knows it." The statement drew curious spectators to watch what was happening.

"I'm sorry?" Dumbledore asked unsure if he heard right.

"Ailill already knows the alphabet."

"And just how does he know the alphabet so quickly?"

"He has a photographic memory," Tom boasted proudly. "First glance at the board and he's got it down."

"Is that true Mr Peverell?"

"Uh yes, sir."

"I see, do you mind if I test you?"

"Not at all, professor."

Ailill then proceeded to rattle off the entire alphabet much to the astonishment of his class who had forgone learning to watch the interaction happen. The boy didn't miss one symbol and when asked random ones picked out by the teacher he answered them flawlessly not skipping a beat. He truly had the whole thing memorised in under a few minutes. Dumbledore didn't know what to do, he himself was a certified genius, he's been in the presence of other geniuses, a blond german boy came to mind, but he's never met someone with a photographic memory; someone who can take one look and perfectly recall what they had seen.

"Well that's frankly astonishing Mr Peverell, I've never met someone with a mind quite like yours."

"Thank you, sir," Ailill said blithely.

"Okay everyone," Dumbledore said, never removing his eyes from Ailill. "Back to work, we have twenty minutes before I decide whether you can attempt the matchstick transfiguration."

The class was still reeling from the fact that the Peverell boy hadn't been bluffing and genuinely could remember everything, it was a rather envious talent he held. Dumbledore kept good on his promise and happy with the effort the class put in he handed out matchsticks to each child,

"Remember to visualise," the man emphasised. "That is the key to this exercise."

Many students stared intently at their little matchsticks holding their wands. Tom was beside Ailill with furrowed brows staring at his match but looked up when he could feel eyes on him. Ailill was resting his head on his hand, ignoring his match in favor of watching Tom.

"Need something, Ailill?"

"Not at all."

"Then why aren't you doing the assignment?" Tom asked dryly.

"Just 'cause." was the only thing Ailill said back with a cheeky smile.

"If you do the work I'll braid your hair later?"

"Wait," Ailill sat up straight. "Really? You promise?"

"Yes, I promise."

Tom had to motivate the boy in some way. Ailill has never put much effort into anything and at one point that enraged Tom who put his best into everything to achieve the results he desired when Ailill put in nothing and could still get the same results. Tom has since tossed away anger instead for fondness and pride as he witnessed his Ailill achieve anything he wanted. Ailill never went to school far more interested in swindling the rich out of their money and so he never had the motivation to perform in academics the way he'd need to perform in Hogwarts, the boy would need nudges and incentives to actually perform in class. Tom knew this and had a list of things that he could use to 'persuade' Ailill to put some effort into his work.

The list compiled so far goes as,

Hair playing/braiding/just messing with his hair in general. Ailill finds it very relaxing and comforting. Incentive for physical classwork, not persuasive enough for larger bouts of effort.

Massages, Ailill is prone to phantom pain (unknown causes) however he does enjoy a deep massage to help get rid of knots and pains. Incentive for workloads like homework assignments.

Extra sleep, Ailill loves his sleep but makes a habit to get out of bed early on days not needed in order to keep up with Tom's more ambitious nature, Tom will stay in bed with him to stop him from getting up. Incentive for workloads like studying for exams/tests- consequently also makes him put effort into performing well on said exam.

Reading a story out loud, Ailill while loves to read gets very tired when doing so himself. Tom will read out loud for him as long as wanted. Incentive for participating in class.

Tom plans to add more as the years go by however all of what he has, for now, will hopefully keep Ailill's attention on school. The only thing is that he can't use these too often or the other will notice and out of spite stop complying; it's best left to only use them for important matters. Tom chose to use one today because for one it's the first day where the teacher judges you based on first impressions and two because by displaying his power early on Ailill is less likely to be ignored by others and written off.

Tom snapped out of his thoughts as Ailill picked up his match stick and glanced at it, the change was instantaneous. The once light brown wood morphed to stainless steel silver, the blunt end took a sharp edge turning into a pointy tip and at the end, a little hole was hollowed out to thread some string through. On his first try, Ailill not only successfully transfigured his matchstick but he also did it with such clear detailing. Seeing the success of his friend Tom concentrated the hold on his wand and visualised the match changing, its basic atomical naturing morphing into a completely different one just because he desired it to happen. Just like the one next to him Tom was successful and had a wide smile on his face as he held out his now needle to his friend to examine. Ailill took it and after looking it over smiled endearingly at Tom.

"Great work Tom, it looks perfect."

"Very true Mr Peverell." The voice of Dumbledore cut in surprising the two. "Well done Mr Slytherin."

"Thank you sir, but Ailill was done before me," Tom said.

"Oh?" blue eyes twinkled. "May I see your Mr Peverell?"

"Sure." Ailill handed over his needle.

"Very well done too," the professor praised. "However I couldn't help but notice you don't have your wand out Mr Peverell. Why is that?"

An uncomfortable look crossed Ailill's face, "I don't really like to use my wand, sir."

"Why not?"

"I'm not sure how to describe it but," he paused trying to find the words. "It's like a vacuum, it sucks all my magic away and it can become unbearable."

"I'm not sure I follow you, Mr Peverell." Dumbledore said, concerned.

Ailill huffed frustrated, "okay so think of it like this, my magic is always in a cloud around me and when I need it I take bits and pieces as I please but when I use a wand it's all sucked into a straight line, and channelled into the wand. It just feels unnatural to me so I don't use it often if I don't need to."

"I see, you take to the more free approach of magic." Dumbledore mused. "Don't worry about it, it's not uncommon but more so found in eastern countries like Japan and Thailand who have a more nature connection to magic. You do what works best for you."

"Yes sir, thank you."

"Of course, now ten points to Slytherin to both of you for completing the task!"

Both Tom and Ailill smiled as the other children in the room let out whines of vexation at not being able to get the transfiguration right. A loud 'boom' had Dumbledore rushing over to the Gryffindor's as a red-robed boy blew up his match effectively getting soot everywhere and causing a few laughs to ring around. Nothing else interesting happened during the class. Only one other child, a young girl, was able to turn her matchstick a silver colour but could never completely get it to turn into a needle. Dumbledore released the children to their next class with the promise of trying again the next day they had class. He became very favourable in the young children's eyes as he left them to head away with no homework for the evening.

Gemma and Yedan were outside the classroom ready to pick up their first years, the next class was charms situated on the second floor and thoughts by Lyind Silverstout. Lyind, they found in her classroom as they entered. She was a very straight-to-the-point woman with little patience for messing around.

"Charms differ from Transfiguring Spells in the following manner: a charm adds certain properties to an object or creature, whereas a transfiguring spell will change it into something utterly different." Her molten silver eyes were critical and hard, uncaring that she was speaking to children. "Lapses in concentration while charming can result in painful side effects — remember Wizard Baruffio, who said 's' instead of 'f' and found himself lying on the floor with a buffalo on his chest. The point is, pay attention to when you're spellcasting or don't cast the spell at all, negligence can lead to life-threatening situations and someone is not always going to be there to help you get out of such situations."

She flicked the wand and had a book on her table do a jig, "Some charms are very mild in nature, some are very powerful in their way to conceal a person's presents or erase entire passages of memories from a person's mind. Charms are finicky and not something to think of as child's play. Charms can be classified as spells such as curses, jinxes, and hexes however they are usually referred to as 'dark charms'. The successful casting of charm is achieved through concentration, precise wand movements, and the proper pronunciation of an incantation. When a charm was cast poorly, it would fail and the caster ran the risk of it backfiring badly. In this class, we will be learning how to do the casting of charms and also the theory behind charms. We will not be doing any physical magic today as I'm going to go to the background of the first charm that we will be working on which is the levitating charm, a basic one needed in everyday Wizarding life. Your homework for tonight will be to write a six-inch paragraph on the background knowledge of the levitating charm and applications that can be used."

The rest of charms class was spent on learning the background and incantation of the spell, only the promise of performing the spell in the next class was the thing that kept Ailill from falling asleep as he listened to the witch drone on and on about the levitation charm. Thankfully the class ended after an hour and a half and it was time for lunch. Ailill nabbed Tom's hand and hightailed it out of the room waiting impatiently for his housemates to join him and the two prefects who were already waiting outside once more to escort the first years to lunch. After everyone was gathered they headed off to the great hall. The hall was once more booming with noise as children chattered and squealed in laughter, Ailill was hungry and dragged Tom to the Slytherin table before plopping down and placing food on his plate starting to eat without speaking to anyone, Tom only shook his head in exasperation but wisely didn't interrupt the other boy during his time of stuffing his face. Tom followed suit as did the other first-years who sat around the table close to Ailill. Slowly talking started up amongst them, after fifteen minutes Ailill had finished eating and now paid attention to those around him, sitting across from him were two girls who were engaged in conversation. Tom on his left was chatting to Alphard with a serious look on his face.

Seeing Ailill was up and paying attention to where he was and what was going on around him the girls across from him started to talk to the boy.

"Hello," the brunette said smoothly. "My name is Elma Burke, daughter of Lyonal Burke. A pleasure to meet you."

"Good day," the girl beside her followed. "I am Cassandra Carrow, daughter of Emerith Carrow."

"Lovely to meet you both," Ailill nodded to them both. "I am Ailill Peverell."

"Interesting name," Burke said curiously. "I've never heard of the name Ailill before, any idea of where it's from?"

"Mhm," Ailill hummed. "I'm pretty sure it's Irish. I never looked much into it but now that you've asked I think I might."

"Well," Carrow smiled. "Let us know if you find anything interesting."

"Will do." Ailill gave a small smile back.

"Ailill?" Tom asked.

"Yeah doll?" Ailill responded back absentmindedly as he plucked up a few grapes.

"Wait- doll?" Avery cut in.

"Huh?" Ailill said. "Oh, I tend to give nicknames to those I'm close to. Tom's been doll for like three years now."

"Really?" Balck said with a sly smile. "Where's my nickname?"

"I don't know," Ailill retorted. "Where's our eleven-year-long friendship?"

"...on speed run and shortened to eleven days?"

"Don't think so."

"Worth a shot." the Black boy shrugged. "I'll get a nickname someday."

Ailill narrowed his eyes at the boy, "doubt it."

"Anyways," Tom said, turning Ailill's attention to him. "Potions are next, what do you think it will be like?"

"Honestly?" Ailill questioned. "Cooking."

"Oh," Tom nodded. "You'll do great then."

"What do you mean?" Lestrange butted in.

"I mean that Ailill is a great cook, so potions will be easy for him if it ends up being similar to cooking," Tom explained.

"You cook for yourself? You don't get house elves to do it for you?" Lestrange said with a weird look on his face.

Ailill paused in his action of taking a drink, "Are you so incompetent that you need others to cook for you? I see."

"Wha- wait no! I-I can cook. I just...don't" The boy defended weakly.

"Hmm." Ailill finished drinking and wiped his hands. "We best prepare, potions will be soon."