September 2nd, 2010, Slytherin Dorm, Hogwarts, Scotland 7:00 AM BST

The pounding on my door woke me up. I groaned, shoving my head under my pillow, and tried to ignore it. Sadly, it wasn't meant to be. "Oi!" Came my only guy friend in the UK's voice through the door. "Ryan! Get your arse up. Breakfast is at seven thirty, and I want time to eat!" I looked around for a clock and saw nothing, so I just moaned and rolled out of bed.

Instead of falling to the floor, I stopped midair, grinning as my wings manifested and lifted me up to a standing position. Weirdly they didn't need to flap or anything, they just kind of…acted to guide me. Flying was at least entertaining enough to get me going a bit, and I dismissed my wings and strode to yank open the door.

"What!" I snapped at Blaise's cheerful face. A morning person. I hated morning people. Let the rest of us suffer in peace.

He brushed past me, stepping inside my room casually. "Well, someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed. You should be thanking me. You might have slept through our whole first class. Which would be bad, since unlike our head of house, our Charms professor doesn't blatantly favor Slytherin."

"There is no right side of the bed to wake up on." I grumbled as I walked to my trunk, slipped out a key and opened the compartment with my clothes on them. I had a package of color changing ties from Twilfit and Tattings and I switched them to green and silver before stuffing myself into my robes.

Blaise looked at the trunk with interest. "Damn. That's a pretty nice model. Must've set you back." I grunted again, but didn't respond until I finished changing, when I grabbed my wand from the bedside table.

Following him out, I noticed that the halls were MOSTLY empty, with only a few of the other Slytherin guys along with us. A pale guy with shaggy brown hair I was pretty sure was named Theo nodded apathetically to us as he passed, and we returned the gesture.

We made it down to the great hall just in time to start breakfast, and we sat down at the Slytherin table with Daphne. Hannah and Suzie weren't around yet, presumably still sleeping like sane human beings.

Daphne's perfectly made up lips twitched in what almost looked like a smile when we sat down. I grinned at her. "No complaints? Eating with us could be bad for your reputation. I'm sure Draco could give you a crash course on why we're a bad element."

She sniffed. "Well, you haven't tried to vanish my knickers from under my skirt, so you come out at least slightly ahead of those other knuckle draggers."

My eyes narrowed, and the table groaned as I gripped it. The other two stopped to look at me warily as I glared at her. "They tried to do…what?" That was super fucked up and not even a little ok. Flirting was one thing, but that was basically assault.

To my shock, they both seemed surprised that I was angry. Daphne gave me a small, unsure smile. "It's fine. It was Flint. I gave him a thorough demonstration of the benefits of having a mother who majored in DADA. I doubt he'll walk right for a week."

It was NOT fine, but since they seemed unnerved by how dramatic my reaction was, clearly the standard for unacceptable here was a little different. I made a mental note to share MY standard with Flint in private, just to make sure he understood where my line was.

"Well. I mean, I'll try not to bug you too much." I said hesitantly. "If you get that kind of shit all the time I doubt you appreciate it from me. You can just tell me if I bother you." I could be kind of flirty, but if she was getting that from all sides I didn't want to make it worse.

Her smile this time was still small, but it was more genuine. "You're a bit forward for me, but nothing objectionable. I appreciate the consideration…Ryan." I nodded, and she looked kind of uncomfortable at the display of actual emotion, changing the subject. "In any case, we have Charms coming up. Don't suppose either of you got a headstart there?"

I shrugged. "I can do a Shield Charm and a Disarming Charm. Mom said those were must haves here. Other than that not really. My mother was a Potions major. Who are we in class with?"

She groaned. "The Gryffs. Which means we have to spend the whole class listening to your cousin snipe at the Boy Who Lived."

"I was meaning to ask about that." I said slowly. "The fuck does that mean? I heard someone say it when that Potter kid got called up for sorting. Lived after what? People seem to either love or hate that guy, and he mostly just looks like a shaved chihuahua. I was expecting him to jump out of his damned skin."

They stared at me. "The Boy Who Lived?" Said Blaise slowly. "The one who defeated He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named." I just looked at him blankly. "The Dark Lord." He emphasized. "The one who was only second to Grindelwald in power?" Nothing. "Grindelwald, who was defeated by our OWN Headmaster?"

"Right." I said slowly. "Grundlewalk. That guy. And his…successor. The dudes with the things. Evil guys. Who did evil. And Potter…what?"

Daphne huffed. "That's debatable, honestly. Whatever he DID do, The Dark Lord died on Halloween night when Potter was one year old. Potter's parents died alongside him. Potter, a literal crying infant, supposedly vanquished the most powerful Dark Lord in the last fifty years."

"Dude looks anemic." I commented as I murmured to my plate that I wanted biscuits and gravy, then had to return the abomination of cookies and like actual meat gravy, defaulting to some scrambled eggs. "So if that's the case shouldn't people be fans?" I paused. "Or wait, shit, I heard Draco's dad was in tight with some asshole in the last war. Same dude?"

Daphne physically winced. "Please stop using that word. It makes you sound so….American."

"I am American, princess." I said with a chuckle. "Doesn't mean much if I talk like it. But I can try to tone it down on using dude if it offends your delicate sensibilities. What do you prefer? Bro? Shithead? Maybe you like the themed shit, and I should call people cowpoke."

"I believe you mentioned not teasing me." She said stiffly, as she glared across the table.

I just shrugged. "I said I would try to flirt less. This isn't flirting. This is just being a dick. I can only change so much for you, princess."

Amusingly, her cheeks pinked a bit at the nickname, and she didn't complain. She sneered a bit. "Well at least you're pretty to look at. It would be too much of a curse for you to be stupid AND ugly."

"You're a cold, heartless girl." I said dryly. "I miss my Suzie. She's never this mean to me."

I heard an 'eep' from behind us, and turned with a grin to see Hannah and a now bright red Susan approaching. Which of course, I'd heard with my enhanced senses. I put on a forlorn look. "Oh no, my secret is out. My preference for adorable redheads will be the talk of the castle. How will I go on."

Hannah snorted as she sat down, ignoring a few glaring Slytherins nearby. "My mother always told me to watch out for pretty boys with silver tongues. I've given Susan the same advice, but she seems intent on talking to you anyway."

I gave the redhead my best beaming smile. "Did you miss me, Suzie? Sadly, we must be separated by house barriers. The only way I can see you at night is in my dreams."

Daphne gave the atomically blushing redhead a sympathetic look. "He'll stop if you ask. Apparently he's a gentleman like that." The last part was said dryly, which I could understand. I could maybe flirt less, but she seemed to at least enjoy it, even if she was super shy. Daphne was right though, I'd stop if she asked.

"Anyway." I said, changing the subject before Susan's head exploded. "What are the Puffs upto for your first class?"

"Potions to start, sadly." sighed Hannah. "I hear Snape is…unpleasant." She paused. "Well not to you I guess. But he doesn't really like anyone else. I just hope we don't lose too many house points." She pointed up at the giant ass hourglasses full of gems Dumbledore had explained in his speech before the end of the first night.

"That would suck." I nodded. "We have Charms with Gryffindor. Which means we'll have to listen to Draco bitch at Harry Potter instead of spending our time doing worthwhile and interesting things. Like trying to look down Brown's shirt."

"I feel sorry for her." Said Susan shyly. "I mean, mine aren't small, but Lavender…she's got to be an H cup. Her back must be constantly sore." I resisted a comment about blowing it out to make it feel better because Susan was…well, Susan. She might get sad about it.

Blaise didn't. "I'd be happy to hold them for her if they get too heavy." Drawled my friend. "Or any other time." The girls all gave him flat stares. "What?" He said in an offended tone and pointing at me. "He gets to say whatever he wants and I get the cold shoulder?"

"It's because I'm so good looking." I said modestly. "Pretty people get away with more. You're not bad, but you don't have all this going on." I waved at my face before winking at Susan. "You think I'm pretty, don't you Suzie?"

She turned tomato red again and started stuttering, and everyone chuckled a bit, even Blaise. In reality I just had a better grip on what would bother people. I'd always had a knack for reading others, but becoming a devil had made that intuition much stronger.

"Jokes aside though." I said to the two Hufflepuffs. "If neither of you have a parent who was a Potions major, Blaise or I can help you out." I shot a look at the cold faced blonde from my own house. "Same to you princess. Though an even exchange would work better for me, if you're up for teaching some of that voodoo that you do."

"I'm assuming that's an irreverent American way of asking to learn any advance DADA I happen to know?" She said primly. I rolled my eyes and nodded. "Very well. I think perhaps we could help each other." She looked at our visiting Puffs. "Either of you a Charms or Transfiguration legacy?"

Susan raised a hand. "My Auntie is a Transfiguration Mistress. Hannah's father is a Herbologist. We grew up together so we've taught each other a bit already. We'd be happy to share." Despite being polite, she didn't seem shy about that. Just determined. I remembered her offer to help tutor me. She clearly cared a lot about helping people.

Daphne nodded. "A study group then. With most of the major classes covered. I approve. Most students have a setup like this to try to learn a bit about other subjects, even after they major. I believe I know someone who could help us with Charms. My friend Tracey is a legacy. You'll meet her later, I'm afraid I still haven't broken her of the habit of sleeping in."

Despite her chilly tone, I could see her eyes warming up a bit as she looked at all of us. Daphne was a bit of hard ass, but she was a sweet girl deep down. I got the feeling she didn't have a lot of friends before us. One at least, obviously, and I wondered what Tracey might be like, but not many. This was turning out to be a decent first day. I just hoped my classes went as well.

September 2nd, 2010. Charms Classroom , Hogwarts, Scotland 9:00 AM BST

Breakfast wasn't bad once I got something edible, and we finished it up talking and planning, going over who could help who with what. It was pretty nice, honestly, having people to interact with like this after a month locked up training with my mom.

Sadly, it was over too soon, and we had to head up to charms while our puffs headed to Potions. Arriving relatively early, I scoped out who would be in the class. Much like the Slytherins in our year, there weren't a ton of Gryffindors. On a lark I took a seat at a table near the middle of the room that put me close to the Gryffindor side.

Blaise sat next to me, though I suspect it was so he could leer at Lavender Brown, who was hands down the bustiest girl in the entire castle. She wasn't a small girl, maybe five five or six, but those tits, man. I was half surprised she didn't fall over.

"You know, it's terrible rude to stare like that." Remarked a snooty and extremely irritating voice. I glanced over to find one of the two that usually hang around that Potter guy, the frizzy haired girl with the relatively thick ass.

I shrugged. "You're not wrong. I'll try to stop, sorry." I held out a hand, figuring better to be polite than make enemies, even if I doubted I'd get along with the girl, who I was pretty sure was the one who had pushed McGonagall for more info the first night. "Ryan Black. Nice to meet you…"

She scowled disapprovingly for a second, then sighed and took my hand. "Hermione Granger. I suppose if you're sorry I can overlook it just this once." She lowered her voice conspiratorially. "They are a tad ridiculous, aren't they? I feel bad for her honestly, her back must be killing her."

Apparently sympathy for large breasted women was a common trend, because Daphne had said something similar. "So." I said casually. "This is my first magic class. Mostly grew up in the muggle world. Any idea what to expect?"

I noted Blaise was talking to Theo, who sat across from us on the other side, and I saw Daphne glaring at me for some reason. Probably house pride. Hermione, for her part, seemed overjoyed, and I had the unfortunate feeling I'd just poked a bear.

Luckily, before she could academically vomit all over me, the redhead sitting next to her leaned over and snapped at me. "Oi! Snake. Leave her alone. I've heard about you. She doesn't need to talk to death eater spawn."

I shrugged. "I don't know what that means, but honestly, I kind of get the hostility. Apparently my cousin once removed is a sociopathic nutcase who went to prison for torture. Never met the bitch, but I'm pretty sure I'd hate her."

"So you admit it!" He crowed triumphantly. "Everyone knows the Black family breeds dark wizards."

"Probably." I said with a shrug. "But they didn't really breed me to begin with, since my mom is muggleborn. I grew up in the muggle world, in the US actually. Which makes this a double culture shock, because Brits are almost as weird to me as other wizards."

He seemed…put off. Like I hadn't done what he expected, and Hermione bulled her way back into the conversation. "That's enough Ronald! I don't need you telling me who to be friends with. You barely tolerate me as it is."

Flushing, he started to stammer. "I-I mean, I wasn't." He seemed lost for words. Another, more tired voice cut in.

"Enough, you two." Said Potter, who was sitting in front of them. "It's fine. No need to assume he's a git because he shares a house with Malfoy. Especially if he was muggle raised. I bet that makes things tough in Slytherin."

I shrugged. "I have friends, they don't seem to care. Draco has already started bitching about it, but then, I cost his dear old daddy a hundred thousand galleons in mismanagement fees for touching my gold before I got my inheritance, so he's hardly unbiased."

The redhead, Ronald, grinned. "You what?" He looked like christmas had come early. "That's brilliant! Lucius Malfoy is total scum. He used to work for you-know-who in the last war. Got out of punishment by claiming to have been controlled with magic. My dad reckons he paid his way out of it."

Laughing, I gave another shrug. "Well I doubt he'll be paying his way out of much for a while. I don't think that was all their gold, but from what the goblins said, it wasn't a small chunk either." Apparently helping to push the Malfoys into poverty made me ok in Ronald's book. Fair enough Draco seemed like an ass.

Speaking of, my second cousin had stormed into the classroom and up to me, doing his best to loom over me, his two hangers on tagging along. "You!" He spat. "Return my family's money, SQUIB." He looked ready to literally spit on me. Which would be…unfortunate for him. He didn't end up doing it though, just tried to look intimidating.

"Ah, Draco." I said calmly. "Lovely timing. I was just telling my new friends here how much gold I managed to rip out of your family vault for all the shady shit you did with my vault before I inherited."

"You shouldn't have inherited anything SQUIB." He hissed. "We saw you on the tapestry. Mother says Grand-Aunt Walburga tried to have you hunted down like a dog. You were the greatest shame the family has ever had. You're a freak, a disgusting, magicless, THING. You deserve NONE of what you have."

I slipped my wand from my robe, setting it on the table, then removed my hand setting it and my other in my lap. "Tell you what. Why don't we test that? My wand is there on the table. You can draw yours and try to curse me or whatever. I won't reach for mine until yours is out, and I bet I can beat you to the punch."

He hesitated. He could see I had ZERO fear of him or his goons. He knew I had to have a reason to be so confident, but he wasn't sure what it was. Blaise being behind me and having silently drawn his own wand probably didn't hurt. I caught his gaze out of the corner of my eye.

"That'll be quite enough of that." Said a high pitched voice, cutting the tension like a knife. "This is a classroom, gentlemen, not a dueling ring." A small man, old and relatively ugly if cheerful looking, hopped up onto the top of the teachers desk with a shocking amount of agility. "Mr. Malfoy. Claim a seat please. If I see such nonsense again you'll both be serving detentions. Is that clear?"

I nodded amiably. I HAD essentially just almost started a magic fight in his classroom. Draco snarled and whirled around, stalking dramatically across the room to claim an empty table. The small man nodded. "Excellent. Now. I." He waved his wand at the board behind him, and a name wrote itself seamlessly across the surface. "Am Professor Flitwick. I will be your Charms instructor. Who can tell me what Charms IS?"

A bunch of people raised a hand, Hermione basically yanking her arm out of her socket to be picked. Flitwick chuckled, pointing at her. "Ms. Granger."

"Thank you professor." Said the bushy haired girl primly. "Charms are a class of spells that add an attribute to a person or object. Enchantments are a frequently explored subset of this field, though find use often in everyday life."

He gave a pleased nod. "Excellently put Ms. Granger. Ten points to Gryffindor for an eloquent and well reasoned answer. She is, of course, exactly right." He said, turning to the rest of us. "Charms add an attribute to a person or thing. To start out, we'll be focusing on charming objects."

Flicking his wrist, his wand appeared in his hand so fast I could barely track it (meaning no one else could have seen it at all). He pointed at an ink pot on his desk and said casually. "Wingardium Leviosa."

With no delay. The inkpot lifted into the air and floated straight up, stopping on a dime right in front of Flitwick's face. "This." He said, hopping off the desk into his tall chair and taking his seat. "Is the levitation charm. The added attribute here is 'weightlessness'. It's an extremely useful and simple charm to master, and the first you'll be learning."

After explaining the wand movement and the incantation and showing us again how the spell was performed, Flitwick left us to self study. I turned to Blaise. "Bet you ten galleons I get it before you do."

My friend smirked. "In your dreams, yank. But if you're so desperate to waste your money I'll oblige you." He cracked his neck like he was preparing for a prize fight and raised his wand, brandishing it like a conductor's baton.

Picking up my own wand, I pointed it at the feather that had been deposited on my table in front of me. Before casting, I considered what Charms were. Adding an attribute. I knew two charms. Disarming and Shielding. One added a defensive attribute to…what? Air? Maybe. And one added, I assumed, the disarmed attribute to a person?

Looking past that, I considered the form my magic took when I cast them. When I used spells my magic had to shape itself specifically into the form of that magic. It made the spell compatible with my wand, sure, but it also made it repeatable and controllable.

Mentally running through the charms I knew, I settled on a specific type of…shape, for lack of a better term, that seemed to be common among both. Then I focused my intent like mom said, and pushed it INTO that shape as I shoved it through the wand, enunciating the spell.

"Wingardium Leviosa." I said serenely. The magic was perfectly primed by the shape, and the magic was perfectly infused with my intent. I'd gotten far past the pale, weak versions of spells that came out in the beginning. Unfortunately…my intent had been less…focused on the actual result than the spell itself.

The table in front of me smoothly lifted off the ground, floating a few feet in the air and stopping. Everyone turned to look and I winced. I…might have overdone that a bit. Flitwick came over, chuckling as he hopped down from the desk. "Very impressive Mr. Black. Not an uncommon mistake to make."

With a small smirk he flicked his wand, muttering 'finite incantatem' as he did. And then his smile wilted. Because the table didn't come down. He scowled, then repeated the spell. Nothing, the table just stayed floating there, didn't even wobble in the air from his spells.

"Continue working please." He called. "Mr. Black, Mr. Zabini. If you might swap to another table. You may take your chairs with you, I'll get this fixed right away." He conjured a pair of feathers, handing them to us, and Blaise and I took our chairs over to push them in on the other side of Daphne's table.

The black haired girl sitting with her, who I assumed was Tracey, the friend who had Charms experience, gave me an impressed look, and I just winked her. She rolled her eyes, though I could see a smirk on her lips as she did, and we all got to work again.

I managed to levitate my feather before Blaise, because he insisted the table didn't count because I targeted the wrong thing. Winning ten galleons was nice, but knowing I could actually do it was better. Even better than that was the furious and wary gaze Draco kept shooting me throughout the class. I got the feeling he was glad not to have gone for his wand earlier. Man, being a devil was an absolute blast.

September 2nd, 2010. Charms Classroom , Hogwarts, Scotland 10:00 AM BST

"Ok. How the bloody hell did you do that?" Asked Blaise after class let out. Flitwick had spent the rest of the hour casting repeated spells I was pretty sure undid magic, and had just barely unfloated that table.

The answer was, of course, on accident. When I'd started casting I'd needed to overpower my spells to compensate for the delay of them fitting the template of the spells I'd needed to use. My magic was wild, and even with my intent focused hard, I'd come up with barely any results starting out.

That said, I'd learned to cast the shield and disarming charms and the stunning spell, and my magic knew some of the shapes it was supposed to take, so I'd tried to underpower the casting a little bit, since I figured it would be easier.

I'd MASSIVELY underestimated how much easier, and I'd been nervous, and had to force my intent to obey, and the combination meant I'd use MUCH more power and intent than necessary for a spell that low level. I'd gone from lockpick to sledgehammer and skipped the damned key.

Now I knew that could happen I could moderate my intent and I could practice a lighter touch with my magic. Apparently I was over the hump when it came to my raw power problems, not that this was much better.

I decided to play it off as a fluke, and just shrugged. "I was nervous, so I put a bit too much english on it."

"Bollocks." Said Daphne, drawing shocked looks from Blaise and I at the crude exclamation. Daphne would curse, but that was more graphic than she usually allowed herself to be. "That wasn't too much english. That was the whole bloody british empire."

Tracey, who had followed us out, was in awe. "I'd heard from Daph you were a late bloomer, but bloody hell. Flitwick is the CHARMS teacher. That's the class where they teach counter-spells. Not being able to take down a spell like that…I think Dumbledore is the only other wizard in the castle with that kind of power."

Of course, I knew that wasn't what had happened. Sure, I HAD overpowered that spell, but it wasn't JUST the power. Devil magic was intent based, and I'd used too much intent as well as too much power. Flitwick had been trying to cancel magic with magic, but his spell's intent wasn't firm enough.

It was kind of a weird mix. Mom said intent was important for wizards too, but they tended to combine them in different ratios. Basically, if devil magic was seventy thirty intent and power, wizard magic was seventy thirty power and intent. From what I could tell it had to do with the nature of the power.

Wizard magic was sedentary, it had to be shaped and commanded. Devil magic was…alive, for lack of a better term. It had to be UNLEASHED and then controlled. Having wizard spells to use helped a lot actually, hence repeatable and focused results, but I was mimicking their casting, not actually using it. I wasn't learning to cast spells, I was training my dog to do tricks, and he did NOT listen to other people.

Too much power came with an even bigger overload of intent, which admittedly wasn't relevant except in this exact situation. I wasn't going to start lowballing the intent on my spells so people could counter them easier, that would be fucking stupid.

But less magic to overpower them would mean less intent, so just dialing my casting back a few notches in total would be a reasonable way to handle this. I'd have a classroom setting and a private setting. I just needed to learn that feather touch. "Look, it wasn't as big a deal as it seems." I tried to soothe them. "Beginners luck."

They looked skeptical, but decided to hold back their comments since I obviously didn't want to talk about it. "So, what's our next class?"

"Free study through lunch." Said Daphne, taking the hint. "We have Magical Theory after that, then finish the night with a free period. Thursdays are pretty light. Three classes tomorrow, though, double Potions in the morning too."

At least that I felt pretty prepared for. Magical Theory? I knew jack shit about that class. I hadn't even known it existed. Mom hadn't mentioned that as a first year class, maybe they added it after she left.

"Want to hit the library?" I said casually. I'd been REALLY excited to hear about Hogwarts' library. The place was supposed to be a massive repository of knowledge, one of the largest collections of magical tomes in the world. Mom had gone on about the variety and types of magic you could learn here, and the library had books on ALL of them.

Blaise nodded grudgingly. "I'd rather not spend my first free period in a room full of musty old books, but given today's lesson, it might be smart to read up. The first year textbooks are woefully out of date."

I nodded, remembering the levitation charm HAD been in the book, but Flitwick hadn't even bothered to refer to it. As for the hesitation…it wasn't a shock. Sure, it was MAGIC, and I couldn't wait to dig into it, but to them it was just an everyday thing.

Like, planes were damned useful, but I couldn't tell you why they worked, and probably wouldn't bother learning. The human mind could adapt to anything, and generations of magic exposure probably made it as mundane to them as being able to buy a plane ticket was to me.

Daphne had a better idea of the way to the library, since she apparently memorized a map, and she led us down several staircases that literally moved until we ended up in the hallway containing the massive hall of books.

Stepping into the place felt kind of just silent like most libraries, but the stifling weight of the magic combined with the quiet to create an almost…sacred, atmosphere. Looking around, Tracey bit her lip and then flicked her wand, murmuring 'silencio', then turned to us. "Alright, we can talk. Stick close, the silencing charm I used doesn't cover that big of a range, so when you're more than three meters from me try to keep quiet."

Translating that into real measurements (I refuse to use metrics damn it, even if they are nominally more intuitive) that was about ten feet (a meter is about three point three feet). We picked a table and I headed over to look for a few books while everyone got settled.

The first year texts were sorted into one section, containing introductory volumes for each discipline, while there was a more detailed section for each major. I started in the first year section, since I was a beginner, and because there were more magical arts represented than there were classes.

Pyromancy, Divination, Alchemy. The intro texts for these arts put them under the subsets of different majors, but they were their own schools of magic. I leafed through a couple of texts, settling on Alchemy as something of interest. I'd always been fascinated by the pseudo-science, and was interested to learn more.

I also snagged myself a few beginner Magical Theory books to brush up before class later, then headed back to the table to sit down with the others. Once I came within range, I could hear Blaise and Tracey chatting about Charms and Potions, exchanging information on useful beginner texts the other might benefit from.

Dropping the books on the table, I slumped into my seat. "You guys know they have more than just the major classes in here right?" I held up my Alchemy book. "There's some really neat magic that doesn't have any classes associated with it."

Blaise grimaced. "Alchemy. No thanks. It's a subset of Potions technically, but it's really weird and esoteric. Lots of Astronomy, Symbology, and Ritual elements. Normal Potions can be finicky about such things, but only to an extent and only at high levels. Alchemy requires you rigorously control about fifty different factors while you work, and it's not all brewing."

I shrugged. "If I'm not into it then I'll bail, but I'm interested. What about you? Any specific subjects you're thinking about looking into? Classes or no."

I aimed the question at all of them. Daphne shrugged. "Occlumency probably. I find the idea of being able to defend my mind and organize my thoughts attractive." At my blank look she rolled her eyes. "It's a form of mental defense. It helps with memory, emotional control, and keeping out unwanted intrusion from people who practice Legilimency, which is a form of mental intrusion magic."

"Wait…" I said in horror. "There are MIND READERS?" I HATED the concept of telepathy. It was gross and intrusive. My brain was sacrosanct, and if someone violated it, I was probably going to try to kill them if they didn't have a good reason. Thou shalt not fuck with my sense of self.

Daphne bit her lip, looking uncertain. "Not…exactly? It isn't as straightforward as that. They CAN pick thoughts from some people's heads, but it's nothing that orderly. Potentially they can go deep and be quite intrusive, but it's difficult and rare magic, and gets harder the deeper one attempts to dive."

"If you find any 'Occlumency' books, let me use them when you're done." I said firmly. Mind rape wasn't shit to fuck around with. If I could learn a skill to stop that, I would. Though who knew if you could even read devil minds. Maybe I should explore that?

Blaise huffed. "Don't worry so much. Greengrass is paranoid. Like she said, it's a rare skill. If it was feasible to pick it up easily my mum would have mastered it ages ago. She's a fairly talented witch, but she never bothered. I say we do a bit of reading before Magical Theory, and then for our free period we head out and get in some flying practice."

"Flying practice?" I said slowly. I could fly, obviously. Could OTHER wizards fly? I'd been under the impression wings weren't standard for them. Maybe there was some kind of spell that let them do it?

"Right." Blaise said in a tone of self-recrimination. "Grew up muggle. Wizards play a game called Quidditch. It's done on flying broomsticks. Dangerous and terrifying but LOTS of fun. We have flying lessons scheduled Wednesdays, but we missed them because of our start day. We can borrow the school brooms on free time though, if we don't have our own."

Tracey snorted. "Might as well wring your own neck. They're ambulatory scrap heaps." We all looked at her and she shrugged. "What? Daddy is a Pride of Portree fan. As a half blood, I grew up on quidditch, and I DO have my own broom. I take it you don't?" She aimed that comment at Blaise.

He just shrugged. "Mum dislikes it. Says it's brutish and uncivilized. I was never allowed to fly much. I'm looking forward to trying out for the house team. Maybe as a chaser or something?" He turned to me. "Basically, the game works like this." He spent the next hour or so describing the rules of quidditch, with Tracey chiming in and Daphne groaning in annoyance at the topic.

It was…a lot of fun. Dumb wizard sports chat with my new friends. It wasn't what I expected from magic school, but it sounded exciting enough. I was interested to try out the flying thing though. It might give me some practice doing it WITHOUT the broom, which I'd been actively avoiding because I was terrified to get more than a few feet up.

We made plans to head out after Magical Theory to try it, and even got Daphne to agree to come with us. The look on her face told me she wasn't exactly thrilled, but getting the snarky and composed girl out of her shell couldn't be a bad thing. I stashed the Alchemy book in my bag after checking it out. I could research it later, when I had some free time. Not like it was going to be relevant for me anytime soon.

September 2nd, 2010. Quidditch Pitch , Hogwarts, Scotland 6:00 PM BST

"I figured when you mentioned brooms you meant something more…magical." I said flatly, looking at the ratty bundle of sticks strapped to a bigger stick in my hands. It wasn't just underwhelming, it was like…subwhelming. I literally had never been less whelmed by anything in my life.

Tracey grimaced. "Yeah…school brooms. It's not perfectly safe, mind you, but it can easily support your weight." Her nearly subvocal murmur of 'probably' as she turned around would have escaped a normal person, but it did NOT escape me. Devil hearing, what a double edged sword.

I weighed the thing in my hands. I wasn't…that worried. I could natively fly. Worst case I fell and then had to catch myself. I could BS it as being some sort of overpowered levitation charm cast on reflex if needed. Glaring up at the brown haired girl, I sighed and looked to where my buddy was standing holding his own 'broom'.

He looked supremely uncomfortable, but eventually nodded. "I say we give it a go, mate. These things are dodgy as hell, sure, but they're still brooms. They put in all kinds of features to stop them from dropping you to your death. Plus, I want to try out for the house team, and no way is the bollocks that passes for flying lessons here going to prep us."

Rolling my eyes, I nodded, and Tracey squealed with joy, bouncing up and down and clapping gleefully. I winced at the high pitched sound, but the sweet faced brunette just flashed me a dimpled grin. "Alright, first step. Put the brooms on the ground and stand above them, we're going to practice calling."

I followed her instructions, looking at her quizzically as I stood up. She ignored me. "Now, this particular trick is much more useful than most people know. The teachers here show it off as a kind of parlor trick when teaching firsties, but it can be used for much more. I want you to put your hand up over the broom and say 'up'. Make sure not to hesitate, just command the broom to your hand."

Shrugging, I did as she said. "Up." I said firmly. The broom just sort of…twitched. But I felt the connection. Briefly. Like a tiny filament of spiderweb sticking to my skin but snapping then I moved. Focusing on the sensation, I repeated. "Up." And to my surprise, it actually worked. The filament connected, and this time I focused on it, pushing my magic through it.

The broom shot up and smacked into my palm in a blur, but after it did…I could still feel the filament of magic connecting us, carrying my intentions to the broom. It was interesting. I was pretty sure most people wouldn't be able to feel this. All my practice subduing my wild magic had given me a pretty delicate sense of what I was doing when shaping the stuff.

Tracey looked thrilled. "Brilliant! You're a natural Ryan. Like I said. That little trick is more useful than it seems. It not only lets you call the broom from the ground, but also from the air. Not far, mind you, but if you fall off you can call it to your hand to catch yourself. Most people don't bother teaching that because if you've fallen off your broom you normally aren't in a state to call anything, but it could save your life someday."

Nodding absently, I let go of the broom, keeping my filament connected, and let it just…hang. It sat in the air, waiting for me to climb on, and Tracey and Blaise just kind of stared at me in shock. I shrugged. "Guess it likes me."

This was a magic school so they'd probably seen weirder, though I heard Tracey mutter 'cheater', before turning to face me and pasting a smile on her face. "Now, with that out of the way, we can get some flying practice in." She pointed above us. "Those are quidditch hoops. I want you each to fly through one and then come back."

Grinning, I swung my leg over the broom as she instructed us how to ride. I felt pretty stable there, and once I mounted, I let myself rise slowly into the air. The broom was still connected to me, and it followed my lead seamlessly, slowly ascending as I stared out over the field.

It was…magical. For lack of a better term. I could see my friends drifting away, see Daphne in the stands looking nervous where she thought she was too far away to be seen (she wasn't a flyer and had refused to come up, but still decided to join us to watch). I felt...free. Weightless, unbound.

I was so in tune with the broom I barely even had to think to steepen my ascent. I leaned back until I was nearly parallel to the ground, my body adjusting until I was almost standing on the twigs at the bottom. I should probably have felt worried, but I just…couldn't.

Freedom. Unrestricted and absolute freedom. From gravity, from the world around me. I picked up speed. I heard voices below me, but I tuned them out. What had I been so afraid of before? This wasn't scary, and my wings wouldn't be either. I was a devil, and devils were MEANT to defy gravity.

Reaching the apex of my ascent I smoothly adjusted my position until I was leaning against the broom flat out and then leaned forward. My rise began a drop, and I hung effortlessly onto the broom with my demonic strength as I tipped into a nearly vertical plummet.

My heart flew up into my throat as the wind battered me and I watched the ground barrel toward me, and I grinned so wide my face nearly split. I roared in joy, my connection so secure I didn't need to lean or pull up to swerve up out of the dive at the last second, so close to the gound I felt my shoes brush the fucking grass as I shot off down the pitch, still hollering in exultation.

Once I'd gone far enough to bleed off the speed I just let myself roll off lazily, hitting the ground from only about a foot up and tumbling sideways for a few feet, laughing like a maniac. "That." I panted breathlessly to my friends as they ran over. "Was fucking AMAZING."

Daphne was right behind them, and she ran up, saw me laughing and hauled back to kick me in the ribs. I felt bad that they looked so freaked, but not that bad, and I rolled aside effortlessly, still laughing.

"You bloody lunatic!" Shouted Blaise, his eyes wide with terror. "You could have died? What kind of nutter does something like that the first time he gets on a broom? HOW did you even do that?" He looked at Tracey. "Can you control a broom that well?"

She shook her head in amazement. "No. That was…I don't know what the bloody hell that was."

"It was STUPID." Hissed Daphne. "That's what it almost broke your fool neck. What were you thinking?" She looked…scared. Which kind of popped my adrenaline bubble. I didn't mean to upset anyone. I was just having fun.

I put both hands up. "Sorry guys. Really. That was my bad. I just got carried away." I was careful not to say it wouldn't happen again, because it DEFINITELY would. That had been amazing.

She glared at me, blue eyes boring into me, before finally sighing in resignation. "Alright. It's done now. But you aren't getting back on that scrapheap again tonight. You'll be sitting in the stands with me."

"Aww, but mom." I whined mockingly. "I wanna play with my friends and fly on brooms like all the cool kids."

Raising an eyebrow, she said imperiously. "I may not be your mother, but you can bet your arse I'll owl her if I catch you doing something that insane again." I felt my mouth flop open in shocked betrayal, but she just crossed her arms and glared. "I won't have you killing yourself the first day of classes. I've still got uses for you."

I winked at her. "Awww. I love you too princess." She blushed, but didn't dignify that with a response, turning to storm off to the stands, obviously expecting to be followed. I shrugged at my two smirking friends, who were clearly more amused by me obeying the gorgeous tyrant than my almost death, flipped them both off for good measure, and then turned to tag along.

Flopping down next to her on the benches, I groaned and let myself relax. I felt very chill after that flight, it was like drinking a nice cup of spiced rum before bed. "So." I said as I let my head lean back. "If you're not going to be flying what are you going to do for a hobby? You can't just spend all your time plotting world domination."

Daphne, seeming to be calming down with me here next to her, sniffed. "I quite enjoy chinese tea ceremony. I find it soothing. I'm also quite fond of dueling. My mother trained me as a girl, and I've grown fond of the exercise. I may seek out some sort of combat club or elective if such a thing exists. Well, and attempt to make connections in preparation for leaving this place."

"Connection?" I snorted. "At school? You buy into that politics shit too much. What can a bunch of teenagers offer?"

"Quite a few things." She said solemnly. "There's a rather flourishing black market run through the school. The ministry has less say here than most places, and so it's easier to smuggle forbidden and restricted goods to trade. Dumbledore doesn't police the student body very thoroughly, especially outside the castle."

I blinked at that. "Really?" That sounded interesting. "You're saying there's like…smugglers on campus?" That actually sounded fucking awesome to me.

"Oh, quite a few of them." She shrugged. "My family deals in rare potions ingredients, I brought a decent selection along with me to trade or sell. It's a good way to setup arrangements for the future. There are…other organizations as well. Why do you think the Dark Lord had such an easy time recruiting when he made his Death Eaters last time. Cults, clubs, secret societies, Hogwarts has quite the underground."

Thinking about my own powerful recruiting tools, I couldn't help but grin as I thought about starting my own society. I wouldn't rush it, I had seven years here, but this sounded like something to look into. I'd uncover more of Hogwarts secrets, and perhaps it would lead me to people that would be suitable for my peerage.

Not that I was going to leave my friends hanging out to dry, but as for what piece I'd give them…well, a pawn was still a devil. I'd pick the people best suited for the roles rather than trying to force a good fit. Daphne kept talking, going on about her family business, and I half listened as I decided on my next move.

I would continue my classes, look to see who stood out. Not just in terms of talent or brains, but personality. I didn't want to be stuck with an anal retentive rules lawyer like Hermione for eternity, no matter how studious she was. No, there was no rush. I could watch, could wait, and I'd find the perfect peerage members.

Though not all of them had to be at Hogwarts. I'd look over the summers too. I leaned back and closed my eyes for the hour we had left in the free period. As I did I smiled at how much fun I was already having in this place. It had been a damn good day, even if it was only my first, I couldn't wait to see what the next ones had in store for me.

September 3rd, 2010. Slytherin Dorms , Hogwarts, Scotland 8:00 AM BST

Today was going to be annoying. I just knew it. I mean, on the one hand, I got to drool over Lavender Brown's sweater puppies for two hours in double potions, but I also had to deal with my shitbag second cousin snarling useless bullshit at Potter. Granger had a decent ass, but the stick that was wedged up there made talking to her more of a chore than anything.

Weasley was, surprisingly, much less obnoxious in passing since our last talk. He still didn't seem to like me, but at the very least he didn't waste time sneering. There was a knock on my door, and I hopped up, wandering over to open it, expecting Blaise to be here to wake me up.

To my surprise, Theo Nott was standing outside, looking anxious. Raising an eyebrow at the appearance of my brown haired classmate, I waited a second, but when he said nothing I came right out and asked. "Yeah? Can I help you with something, Theo?"

Theo was, according to Blaise, a pretty chill guy. He was kind of a party animal, and most everybody liked him. The kind of guy who was always down to get a beer and just hang out, a rarity among all the stuff purebloods in Slytherin. As someone who took every opportunity his mom wasn't around to let his hair down, so to speak, Blaise appreciated having someone to bro out with, and they'd been friends for years.

He swallowed hard. "Can I…can I come in?" He said quietly. "I wanted to ask you a favor."

Sighing, I nodded and stepped back. I was a devil, and if he went for his wand I could break his arm before he touched the damned thing. In these close quarters no wizard was fast enough to touch me.

I'd noticed that last night, Tracey had introduced us to Quidditch, and showed us a set of the balls involved. The snitch had gotten loose and I caught it seamlessly without even needing to look. Apparently my reflexes were nuts now.

Stepping inside and closing the door, Theo exhaled, looking a bit less tense. "Thanks. I don't want anyone to hear any of this." He took a deep breath. "Look. Word around the house is you're some kind of badarse. Everyone saw what you did in Charms, and Greengrass has been hanging around you. She's an icy one, and she wouldn't bother if you weren't worth it."

I rolled my eyes. "Theo, if I wanted a Slytherin to suck my dick, I'd slip Gemma Farley a couple galleons. I hear she's good for that. Since I HAVEN'T done that, you can assume I didn't let you in here to fondle my metaphorical balls. It's eight in the morning. WHAT DO YOU WANT?"

He chuckled a bit at that. "Do you know who Devon Lockwood is?" I shook my head. I'd never heard of him. "Lockwood is a sixth year. He's kind of the go-to guy around the house for getting things you're not supposed to get. He ALSO frequents a lot of the same parties that Blaise and I used to go to as kids."

"He fucking with you or something?" I felt for him if so. I wasn't really sure I could take a sixth year, at least not a connected one. Blaise's buddy or not, kicking the shit out of a guy with that many friends would have me cursed every time I turned my back for the rest of my time here. I was fast and strong, but I wasn't omniscient.

He shook his head. "No. Not exactly. See, some of those parties were very boring, and Blaise and I would slip off and chill with Devon and his friends. Sometimes we'd drink, or just shoot the shit. Sometimes though, we'd play games. I'm…I'm not great at games. But when I'm drunk I still like to play."

I sighed, having heard this story before. "You owe him money, don't you? If this is about me protecting you from paying your own debts that's a hard pass for me. Not my business."

"It's not!" He said quickly. "He…he told me he'd take care of my debt for me. But I need to get him something. He was…insistent. But I'm scared, mate. He wants me to harvest saliva from the Cerberus in that third floor corridor. I didn't even know it was there, but after we talked I went by to see it and…that thing is a monster. It'll bloody kill me."

That wasn't at all what I expected. "Wait…Cerberus? Like the three headed dog that guards the gates of hell?"

He shrugged. "I don't know about guarding gates, but there's one here for sure. Thing is, if I don't get the saliva Devon said he's going to curse my bones to glass. After hearing about the shit you can do, I was hoping to hire you. I want you to help me subdue the thing so I can get the saliva, and I'll pay a hundred galleons for the trouble."

That was slightly less obnoxious than I expected. At least he wasn't trying to make me do it for free. I narrowed my eyes. "Did Blaise put you up to this?" My friend had seen more of what I could do than most. He probably didn't know anything useful, but he had some good reasons to assume I could help. Plus he hadn't shown up to get me for our first class.

Theo looked guilty. "He…might've mentioned you're good in a pinch. After I begged him for help. Look, this is a pain in the arse, I get it, but I'll pay you, and if we don't manage it…I'll figure something out. You get paid even if we fail. Can you just try? Please?"

I sighed. "Fine. I'll look into it. But you'll pay me up front and I'll go alone. I have my secrets, and I don't trust you to have my back. No offense, but I don't know shit about you. You give me the money, and I'll check out the situation and harvest the saliva if I can. If not, I'll let you know, and you can go from there."

Nodding profusely he grinned. "Of course mate, I owe you one." He grinned and winked. "You ever want to give Farley a try, tell her it's on Theo." I laughed at that as he turned and bounded out of the room with a spring in his step. I closed the door and got dressed in my robes, changing out of my sweatpants, then headed to breakfast.

I found Blaise waiting outside, leaning against the wall. "Oh, Blaise." I said in mock surprise. "I didn't expect to see you there? I figured something must have held you up this morning. You missed the strangest visit from your friend Theo."

He winced. "Sorry mate. I just…I've known him a long time. You seem like you can handle yourself. Thought you might be able to help." When he saw that I didn't look pissed, he gave me a guilty grin. "You want some company when you go check things out?"

Apparently Theo had mentioned my plan in passing, or else the doors here weren't soundproof, which…made sense. I'd have to look into that. "Nah." I said with a wave. "Sorry bud, but like I said, I have my secrets. If I'm doing this I'll be doing it my way. Although…how much is the saliva worth anyway? This Devon guy seems to want it pretty bad."

He shrugged. "Ask Greengrass. I don't know shite about potions reagents. You thinking of collecting more while you're up there?"

"In for a penny, in for a pound." I was getting paid for this, sure, and I was rich as fuck, but nobody ever died of having too much money. Might as well double dip if it was on the table. Or maybe Daphne would want some, she could owe me a favor. Seeing the breathtaking blonde pout over owing me one was a pretty appealing prospect.

"Mate, I don't.." He looked uncomfortable, but I just laughed and held up a hand.

"Blaise. Buddy." I said as gently as I could. "You're not going to be able to help me sneak up on and subdue a giant three headed dog that scares wizards. If this thing wasn't a threat, Devon would have harvested the saliva himself, instead of pressganging Theo into risking his neck. You made the sale. Stop selling. Just let me handle it."

As a devil, I was PROBABLY tough enough to handle whatever this was. Worst case I'd shield and run. My shield was fucking beefy at this point. He looked at me for a minute then sighed. "Right. Well, I owe you one. Truly."

Clapping him on the shoulder, I smiled at him. "Don't sweat it. We're friends. I'm making some money off it so it's not like I'm being put out. Now why don't you join me in my seat over by the Gryffindors. I've heard Snape absolutely hates them, and I want an up close view of Granger getting the air let out of her tires."

That got a grin out of him. "I thought you seemed rather chummy with her in our Charms class. Though not as chummy as with Bones in our Magical Theory. You like the studious and scholarly type huh?"

I chuckled. "She seems nice enough under the know-it-all attitude, but I won't be proposing any study dates. We have our study group thanks, and Granger strikes me as a bit prissy. Seeing a teacher jerk that stick she has up her ass will be funny. Just because you don't hate someone doesn't mean you don't want to see them rattled."

"Oh, should I point our dear head of house at your redhead?" He said knowingly. "She seems like the studious type too."

I snorted. "Suzie is a cinnamon roll. If you mess with her, I'll dip your head in a toilet. That girl doesn't have need her ego punctured. She needs MORE of an ego, if anything. I'm going to try to teach her to be more assertive during our study time."

"I bet I know what you want to insert." He wiggled his eyebrows at me and I rolled my eyes with a snorted laugh.

When we arrived in the potions classroom, we grabbed an empty table near the Gryffindor side. Not close enough to get Granger and Potter's attention though, closer to the back. As I sat down, a cheerful blonde turned to smile at me. "Oh, hi!' Said the upbeat voice of the girl I'd found my eye drawn to every time we were in class together. "I'm Lavender, nice to meet you."

She held out a hand, and I leaned forward to shake, enjoying the view as she had to stretch to catch my hand. Dear gods. Those tits. She didn't seem to notice me staring though, and pulled back after the shake. "Ryan Black." I said casually. "Nice to meet you."

She blushed a bit when I hit her with my best smile. "Oh. I…uh. I like your accent." She stammered. "I'm Lavender." She froze, face going scarlet. "Bollocks, I already said that. Brown. Is my name. My last name. After Lavender." She buried her head in her hands with a groan. "Merlin, kill me now."

"I'd rather not." I said with a winning smile. "Who would I have to talk to?" I gestured at Blaise. "My buddy is boring. I'd rather get to know a fascinating and beautiful woman. You going to dash my hopes?" I was laying it on a bit thick, but she seemed to be eating it up, biting her lip shyly and looking away as she shifted her shoulders to push her chest out a bit. I heard Blaise scoff and turn away, but I kept my eyes on Lavender. Maybe potions wouldn't be such an annoying class after all.

As usual folks, advance chapters equaling another 10k words are available on pat-reon at that site /malcolmtent hope everyone enjoys.