Thanks to those who review, Keep up the great support, and enjoy the new chapter. ~F

Chapter Eighteen

Factional Creation

Albus watched the Ravenclaw Table closely the next day at breakfast. While he had had to admit that the Dursleys had not been the best fit for Harry, he was still smarting that, of all people, the boy had run off with the Malfoys, his political rivals and counterpoints, Albus' own achievements and positions notwithstanding. He wouldn't allow that fact to gall him into foolish action however, but he was going to make absolutely certain that the boy was not up to anything untoward, especially with his propensity to magic that was different, and had the appearance of being Dark in nature.

Thankfully, between Filius promising to keep his eyes on the young man, along with the extra potions lessons from Severus, that would help alleviate the possibility of something happening with, or to, the boy.

Albus also had to think up a reason to get Harry into his office again to press the matter of learning about the knowledge of this Arcane magic that the boy so easily practiced, so similar to the ancient arts of the Druids, and Merlin. The more he looked at the question of Harry's upbringing, the more he saw the ancient wizard's influence, especially when Harry had mentioned his freedom to walk through field and forest at will.

Who else but the ancient Druids still traveled through the countryside for any reason? The wizards of today had no such need, as they were all completely caught up in their lives and monetary influences, Lucius included, so that had to mean that the boy had been raised by one who was without such needs or propensities.

Albus knew that it was a farfetched idea, but he wanted it to be the truth, as opposed to who-knew what else it might possibly be. There were so many dangers in their world, and it worried the Headmaster to think what might have happened if Harry hadn't been so fortunate to return to them at this time.

Of course, Albus' internal thought process was rather difficult this morning because of the loud and unnecessary prattling of their newest member of staff, Gilderoy Lockhart. Honestly, Albus wondered for a split second how the man was eating if he continuously kept talking, citing random misinformation from his ridicules books to 'show off' how brilliant and intelligent he was.

Albus would never have signed on the man, except for the fact that failure to find a professor would give the Ministry opportunity to shove their unwanted nose into the school and appoint one of their own in the place of a qualified individual, and once in, the politics of the Ministry would never allow control to be wrested from them ever again.

So, they had to put up with this liar and fraud for a year, and hope for a much better candidate in future. It wore on Albus, that Tom had so effectively demolished the ability for the students to learn proper defense against the Dark Arts, ever since Albus himself denied the dark lord his wanted position, and the ability to cultivate his own private army of loyal students.

Just then, the familiar nest of black hair entered the great hall, and Albus lost all thought of Gilderoy or Voldemort, and focused his attention to making sure that Harry was not up to anything throughout the meal. Aside from casual conversation with his housemates, and the affectionate nod or wave to his friends from other houses as they also entered for breakfast, Albus couldn't see anything that was out of the ordinary, although the boy seemed to have some sort of nervous tick in his left hand, which was placed on the table while he ate.

Strange, but Albus would review that later. Glance around at those who were known to be close with Harry, Albus was surprised to find that both Mr. Malfoy, Mr. Nott, and Miss Granger were all occasionally casting glances toward the Ravenclaw table, before returning to their own conversations, or book in the case of Mrs. Granger.

How odd… it was as though they were awaiting some sort of message. Then it hit Albus, Harry's left hand. Refocusing on Harry, more subtly this time, Albus watched from behind his own food as the boy rhythmically tapped, slid over, or knocked upon the tabletop. It was ingenious, the perfect cover for delivering simple messages to other students across the Great Hall. Granted, Albus did not yet know what the message meant, and it could be completely innocent, such as a time to meet up for homework review, but just in case Albus would have a teacher, probably Severus, watch where the three went today.

Meanwhile, Albus himself would review the memory of this event carefully, and once Severus returned with his information, it shouldn't be too difficult to decipher what exactly the coded messages meant. Satisfied, Albus sat back and enjoyed the rest of his meal, knowing that he was doing what he could to make sure that Harry was safe, even from himself if need be.

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Nobu'tan knew that he was being watched the moment he entered for Breakfast. Dumbledore was not nearly as subtle as he thought he was, especially when one had trained in stealth and detection from the masters of the Burning Blade clan for a period of months. That had been a rough, but highly worthwhile experience, although he still had a few scars from their more exuberant members.

Still, it was unlikely that their little meetings would go on in secret for much longer, so the warlock pretended to not notice as he sent the message for Hermione to met with him on the fourth floor, in an unused storage room just before dinner. He still intended to proceed with his plans, and let the Archmage and his spies try to understand their doom. Hermione was already a mage, and progressing magnificently even without his continual tutelage, and soon she would understand that she could find and teach those whom she felt worthy, and Nobu'tan would be able to let her go about on her own for a while, unsupervised.

Sure, if Dumbledore found out that Nobu'tan had trained another, he would be rather put out that he had been ignored, but the warlock was ready if the man wanted to push for learning the power of the Arcane. There was more than one way for the young warlock to diffuse the old man's dreams of plumbing every secret out of him.

But he had some time before he had to worry about any of that, as after the meal there were classes to attend to, such as Defense against the Dark Arts, with Slytherin House first thing after breakfast. Or at least that was what his schedule had said. When Nobu'tan arrived in the classroom however, he found the rest of his classmates from both Houses present, but no sign of their Professor.

Quickly taking a seat at the rear of the room with Draco and Theodore, the young warlock looked questioningly at the pair of them, and received shrugs of confusion in response. "The door was unlocked but Lockhart's not even here…" Theodore explained.

"The fraud's probably gotten cold feet and run off…" Draco said sarcastically, earning a few glared from nearby girls who had not gotten seats closest to the front of the room.

It wasn't for nearly a half hour into the class period that the man finally showed up, smiling broadly in a rather ridicules turquoise robes, complete with matching hat sitting upon his gold hair. "I think I'm going to be sick…" Draco said quietly as the man passed their seats to the front of the room, twirling on the spot and flashing an unnaturally bright smiled at them all, as though that would excuse his own tardiness.

"Pardon my lateness, class, I was caught up assisting dear professor Sprout with tending to a Whomping Willow that you all are quite lucky to have on the grounds. The poor plant had a bit of root rot that was making it ever so unpleasant, and I just happened to have met several of these exotic plant on my travels, and couldn't help but lend my expertise to doctoring it."

The rest of the class surged in mild interest, but Nobu'tan could tell from across the room that the man was lying through his teeth. One was not raised by the master of deceit without picking up the ability to tell when one was being lied to, and this was a classic case of pure fiction being thrown at the unobservant from the tics and signs of a professional liar.

Of course, the advantage was that the man, who clearly loved to hear himself talk to mindless sheep blathered on for the remainder of the class period, effectively wasting all of their time until the bell rang, and all those that had bothered to expect any sort of lesson packed away their things. Draco, Theo and Nobu'tan had done nothing of the sort, and were almost to the door when the young warlock felt someone place a hand on his shoulder, "Ah, Harry… how lovely to see you. Might I have a word before you go off to you next lesson… Wonderful…"

Before Nobu'tan could give any excuse as to why he wanted nothing to do with the man, Lockhart was already gently pulling him back into the room, while the two Slytherins watched with annoyance on Nobu'tan's behalf.

"Harry… Harry, Harry, Harry," the man said slowly, shaking his head as though he was a favored uncle or something. "You know I've heard all about the little stunt that happened in Diagon Alley the day of my book signing, between you and Professor Dumbledore, and I have to say, one established celebrity to another rising star that you probably don't want to start off you career with that sort of spotlight events. Arguing in broad daylight, what would the papers say? I mean, Harry… you were probably inspired to do something because of my presence, so I can hardly blame anyone but myself, natural that you would want to get your feet wet with publicity, but one needs to start small when they're so early in the career, there's plenty of time for the big stuff when your older and more well known. I mean, sure some people have heard of you through that business with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, I know, it's not as good as winning Witch Weekly's Most Charming Smile Award five times in a row, as I have… but it's a start, Harry… it's a start. Just don't push yourself too much, enjoy you young life before it's gone, and then worry about your fame… just think about it, alright? Now off you trot, I have another class to prepare for the afternoon…"

And, giving a tremendously creepy wink at Nobu'tan, the man ushered him to the door of the classroom, closing it behind the thoroughly confused warlock as though nothing was wrong at all.

It took a good long few moments for Nobu'tan to sort through what had just happened, but once it did the anger that threatened to bubble to the surface was quite dangerously frightening, even for the warlock. That disgusting fraud of a man had the audacity to make light of him like that did he? Lockhart had no idea with whom or what he was trifling with. If Nobu'tan had less self control, or more care toward his blood family he probably would have done something drastic, and bloody, right then and there, but self preservation dominated all action, and he hurried away to catch up with the other Ravenclaws, who were on their way to Potions with the Hufflepuffs down in the dungeons.

Lockhart had started to cross a dangerous line, with his presumptuous half-threats regarding what Nobu'tan was up to. Naturally the man was only concerned with the fact that he, as the great and famous 'Harry Potter,' was more likely to get attention from sneezing than Lockhart would for his entire life's work, and had decided to try and quell as much of the world's perceived attention to Nobu'tan as possible, only for the sake of promoting himself of course.

Well, actually, that wasn't a half bad thing for Nobu'tan, he mused as he descended the stairs to the dungeons, catching up with the rear line of blue robed second years. The only flaw was that Lockhart was clearly incompetent at anything he said or did that there was no way that he would actually draw attention to himself for more than a few moments over some colossal failure or another from time to time, but the idea still was brilliant.

If Nobu'tan could set up another as a famous figurehead, he would be able to slip under the radar unnoticed by anyone at last, but the question was how exactly to go about doing that…

This thought plagued him all through the Potions' class, and even though Snape was breathing down his neck, looking for anything out of place, on Dumbledore's orders no doubt, the warlock was still able to enjoy the brewing of a new potion that they had been assigned for the first day of classes and work on his new idea. Perhaps Miss Granger and the two Slytherin boys would be able to fulfill multiple roles at once for him…

And, if his distractions couldn't have gotten any worse that day, he was persuaded down to one of the courtyards after lunch by Hermione to discuss Lockhart's classes. Unfortunately, Nobu'tan was distracted from any sort of conversation by the sensation of being intently watched. Looking up from the book he was skimming as the girl asked him questions regarding the defense class that morning, Nobu'tan saw a small, mousy-haired first year boy staring back at him transfixed.

The Gryffindor boy was clutching what looked like an ordinary muggle camera, which was already a strange enough devise for the warlock who had been raised in a technologically deficient world. The moment their eyes locked and the boy recognized that he had been caught staring he flushed bright red.

"All right, Harry?" I'm… I'm Colin Creevey," the boy said breathlessly, taking a tentative step forward, partially seeming to try and embolden himself to address Nobu'tan. "I was just wondering… D'you think… would it be all right if… can I have a picture?" he said finally, raising the camera hopefully.

Nobu'tan blinked… twice, before even thinking about responding. "Why would you want anything like that…" he said bluntly, but it seemed to do very little to stopping the boy's desire.

"So I can prove I've met you," the boy continued eagerly, edging further forward. "I know all about you. Everyone's told me. About how you survived when You-Know-Who tried to kill you and how he disappeared and everything and how you've still got a lightning scar on your forehead!" he said all of this very fast, his eyes raking across Nobu'tan hairline for a glimpse of same said scar, "And, a boy in my dormitory said if I develop the film in the right potion, the picture'll move!" the child drew in a great shuddering breath of excitement at that and kept talking, "It's amazing here, isn't it? I never knew all the odd stuff I could do was magic till I got the letter from Hogwarts. My dad's a milkman, he couldn't believe it either. So I'm taking loads of pictures to send home to him. And it'd be really good if I had one of you…" he looked imploringly at Nobu'tan again, "maybe your friends could take it and I could stand next to you? And then, could you sign it?"

Nobu'tan just gaped at this child, his impatience and irritation growing. But he restrained himself from exerting his frustrations on an ignorant child. "I think that would be a bit much right now, but I'll let you have just one picture of me with some of my friends, as lunch is about to end soon, so we all need to hurry back to classes shortly," he said diplomatically. The boy looked a little sad, but accepted, quickly snapping a picture of Nobu'tan and Hermione before dashing off.

"You'll need to watch out for that one," Nobu'tan said congenially as they started to go their separate ways, Hermione back inside the castle for Defense with Lockhart the fraud, while Nobu'tan went with the other Ravenclaws down to Herbology with the Slytherins again.

"Yes, it seems he may get into trouble if he keeps listening to the wrong kids," Hermione said concernedly.

"We'll talk later," Nobu'tan promised, reminding her of their scheduled meeting before dinner, and she nodded before they dashed apart to catch up with their respective classes.

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Hermione hadn't been sure about Harry's thoughts on Lockhart, but just one class with the man had been more than suspicious. Not only had they actually learned next to nothing, unless you counted a test regarding the man's personal life and desires, but Professor Lockhart had decided that it would be a good idea to release Cornish Pixies into a classroom full of twelve year olds with limited magical education.

Fortunately, Hermione was not an ordinary second year. The threat presenting itself cause her to immediate rise to defend her class, a single arcane blast knocking the first pixie to come at her right out of the sky, before Hermione concentrated and unleashed a small storm of arcane bolts around the room, the magical missiles flying after the speeding pixies, dislodging and stunning each in turn as they attempted to rampage around the classroom.

Within moments she had over half of the little pests on the ground, stunned, and was focusing in on the remainder that were attempting to lift Neville Longbottom right off the ground. Her wand completely forgotten, Hermione dug deeply into the wellspring of magic beneath them, and unleashed a small torrent of power, causing an eruption of arcane magic around her, sparks and purple magical energy exploding all around her, causing negligible damage to her classmates or the objects, while it sent her true targets, the pixies, rocketing into the walls on all sides, knocking them senseless and allowing the last stragglers, Neville included, to bolt from the room.

She gave Lockhart one look, and all thoughts of her short lived infatuation with the pretty boy utterly wasting away in that one moment as he looked frightened by her rather than the devastation he had unleashed in his own classroom, and had been powerless to stop on his own, his own wand having been tossed out the window by the pixies mere moments into the chaos.

Hermione turned and walked away, more irritated by the lack of any sort of thanks from the Professor. She was so focused that she didn't notice that all her classmates had waited for her just around the corner, and cheered loudly when she appeared, the girls giving her hugs while the boys demanded to know what it was she had done to defeat the pixies so quickly.

She dismissed the questions with her usual answer of 'studying in the library,' which seemed to convince the vast majority of them, before the bell rang for them all to go down to dinner, but Hermione hung back, allowing their group of second years to travel ahead of her, so that they did not see when she took a different turn on the third floor, and double back up a side staircase that took her near one of the usual meeting places that she had come up with Harry and the two Slytherin boys last year.

She wasn't surprised to find that Harry had beaten her to the room, although he seemed to have come straight there from their class out in the greenhouses, as his forehead was still lightly coated in sweat, but that didn't matter at the moment to her.

"I felt the Arcane magic that you let off today," he said without preamble, "What did Lockhart do to provoke you of all people?"

Hermione shrugged, "Released wild magical creatures on a class of twelve year olds, I took care of it…" she responded simply.

"Unsurprising, considering the fool who is teaching us…" Harry said, accepting the reasoning she had given. "But I suppose you may have drawn unwanted attention from not only the Headmaster, but your fellow classmates in Gryffindor…"

Hermione hadn't thought about the ramifications, but before she could reply, Harry had pressed onward, "However, this may work to our favor, especially with the task I think it is time for you to embark upon."

That caught her interest, "What task do you mean by chance?"

"The task…" Harry said, pausing as he turned to gaze out the window across the darkening grounds, "of training more Magi, followers of the Arcane arts. You have progressed far in the time since I first revealed it to you, and I think you are ready to pass on knowledge to other while still moving forward on your own."

"I…" Hermione paused, suddenly uncomfortable, "I don't know if I can teach others that easily… that's also assuming that people will listen to me…" she added, growing insecure.

"After this afternoon, I doubt that you'll have to even look far for people begging to learn your 'defense' magic. I will simply give you a list of qualities to look for in potential mages, as well as a few locations and times that you can train them secretly, and leave the rest to you… You will be the grand face of this new faction of magic users, while I operate behind the scenes, supporting and guiding you to revolutionizing the Wizarding World."

Hermione's eyes widened. Harry had unknowingly struck her secret goal. When she had been introduced to this world, especially the less than progressive aspects of it, and the highly conservative nature of their government, she had wanted nothing more than to aid this world by bringing it closer to the muggle counterpart in how laws and order was handled. But the problem was that she would be fighting against the tide of complacency and backwards thinking.

With Harry's help, and a new method of magic in the form of the Arcane mages however, she could be poised on a tide of change that would be able to force the stubborn wizards to accept new ideas, even those which were muggle in origin. "I… yes, I see how this will work," she said, nodding, "I'll go through with this, and organize a cluster of Arcane users in Hogwarts, starting in Gryffindor. I presume you have a list of people to approach or make sure to recruit over others?"

Harry smiled, "You know me well," he said, producing a list on parchment. "You will want to avoid most of the Slytherins for the time being, until your ranks have swollen enough to tempt them away from their pureblood manic ways. And here," he added, pulling out a second sheet, "is the list of prerequisites for new Mages. I figure you want to do a bit of practice now to sharpen your skills one more time before you more or less no your own. I'll make sure that skills I know make their way into your hands so that you can continue to improve while bringing the rest of the new mages into the fold."

Hermione nodded, she had been looking forward to revealing some of her new skills to Harry, and relished his look of surprise when she transfigured him temporarily into a sheep, as well as protecting herself from one of his attacks by freezing herself in a block of ice.

It was nearly halfway through dinner when they called it quits to make sure they had something to eat. Hermione was greatly surprised when Harry took extra time to make sure that they were not being observed as they made their way down to the Great Hall. As they separated to their respective tables, Hermione had much to do and talk about.

Just as Harry had expected, many of the Gryffindors were ecstatic at what she had done to protect the other second years, and students from first to seventh year wanted to learn how she had done it, even a few Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws wandered over to ask the same. For the time being she hinted at the likelihood of herself being persuaded, but for them moment needing time to think about it, and enjoyed her dinner.

Casting a sidelong glance toward Harry, she spotted the boy watching her with a wide smile, and nodding his approval at her choices. With his help, she would indeed usher in a new order of magic users, and change the world for the better. This was her aspiration, and she wanted nothing more than for it to happen.

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Severus didn't know how it was possible, but Potter, blast that boy, just knew that he was being spied on when he met in secret with Granger before dinner. And damn him, he allowed it to happen, just sat there smiling as he discussed forming a new coalition of magic users with Granger, magic that he had tried to deny Albus' the knowledge of but had freely given to the Gryffindor girl, and was now trying to spread out through the house of lions, and others that met a list of qualities that he himself had created.

As the pair had left for the Great Hall, the boy had looked directly at Severus and just smirked, like there was nothing he could do to stop the Ravenclaw boy or something, but that was madness, he had all the ability to halt this charade long before it could occur.

Locking eyes with Albus as he entered the Great Hall, sometime after the pair of students, he nodded, indicating that he had the information that they wanted. The old man nodded slightly in response, his eyes flickering to Granger first, then Potter.

They had agreed that, if Granger knew anything of importance, they had to question her first, before confronting Potter about his revealing of this unknown magic to another. Although, Severus was dubious about what authority Albus had to deny or control Potter's use of his own knowledge. At the same time, he knew and understood the need that Albus felt in making absolutely certain that this magic was not Dark or dangerous in any fashion.

It was requisite for the pair of them to meet again, but the other Professors would start to grow rather unsettled if they noticed the pair of them hanging back every dinner to discuss unknown topics, so they decided that they would simply part ways as normal after mealtimes, and meet in secret after curfew when Severus was not meant to patrol the corridors.

Therefore, it was with his usual briskness that Severus ate, completely ignoring the others at the Head Table, especially Lockhart, and made his way out and back to the dungeons almost immediately after the meal was dismissed.

He did not, however, remain in his quarters after arriving there. The school had a very useful inter-castle Floo network that only the staff had any access to, so Severus was able to quickly travel up to the Headmaster's office through the fireplace, and wait just inside the man's office for him to return from dinner.

Soon enough the sound of the gargoyle grinding aside down below could be heard, and Severus ducked into a shadowy corner just in case the Headmaster was not alone. Mercifully, the man was not, and he soon entered the office, glancing sidelong at Severus' corner before going straight to his desk.

"Granger knows far more than she or Potter have let on," Severus began quickly, not trusting that some other professor might be on their way to meet with the Headmaster as well.

"Undoubtedly," Albus replied, "so we should question her regarding where Harry had been during his absence?"

Severus shook his head, "As to that, I doubt she knows more than we do, however…" he paused, glancing around at the gossipy portraits around the room, before shrugging it off, these would not betray the current Headmaster, even if they'd disagree with his policy. "She is blatantly and obviously learning the Arcane magic that Potter knows, and they are plotting to start teaching it to others, without your consent or knowledge of it."

It seemed that Albus had not expected that to be what Severus had to report. He leaned back for a long moment, seeming to sigh in remorse. "It is as I feared; Harry doesn't trust us in the slightest."

"Should we work to stop either of them from spreading this magical knowledge around the school?" Severus asked, willing to act immediately to quell this action.

"Upon what grounds?" Albus countered, "We would need evidence that Harry's magic is indeed dangerous, even if it is strange or forgotten, we cannot do much to prevent it, and going to Miss Granger directly would only prove to Harry that we do not trust him to do the right thing and alienate him all the more. How could we work with him to defeat Voldemort when he returns if the one prophesized to defeat him will not so much as tell us the truth?"

"So, you think we ought to do nothing?" Severus said disapprovingly. The sheer amount of doubletalk and second guessing that the Headmaster had gone through in regards to Potter was starting to get very irritating.

"Of course not," Albus said, frowning slightly, which looked extremely strange on the usually congenial, almost grandfatherly face. "We will still approach Miss Granger, but not in regards to Harry or his teachings, yet. We need to win her rapport and through her we will be able to learn of Harry's secrets without having to go about it too openly."

"I suppose that may work…" Severus admitted, but he still had his reservations about trying to simply trick either of the twelve year olds regarding the Arcane magic that they were trying to keep secret between them.

"When will your private lessons with Harry begin?" Albus said out of the blue.

"At least three weeks into term," he responded automatically, before registering what the man was referring to.

"Good," Albus said before Severus could catch and change his response, "You will keep those to standard potions, while allowing Harry to flourish in what he likes to do, passively observing what he attempts to create and for what purposes. Keep some sort of record of it for us both to review at a later time; otherwise we will leave them to their own devises for the time being; only interfering if we see some sort of danger regarding this experiment of theirs."

"I understand…" Severus replied, turning back toward the fireplace and his ticket to freedom from dealing with any more madness for one evening.

Strangely, he was allowed to retreat all the way back to his own office without being called back for once. It was rather odd, as usually Albus had some strange need to always have the last word when it came to their little chats, but Severus supposed that this issue with the Arcane magic and Potter was indeed far more consuming for the old man to deal with than his usual start of term complications.

Sighing aloud and moving to his private stores of Firewhisky, Severus poured a sizeable amount to try and relieve the stress of his last few hours. Not to mention the pressure that he would be under in trying to spy on a distrustful child, that if it had been anyone else would have been nothing to the former Death Eater, but as it was Potter's spawn, it came not only with Severus' own baggage regarding the boy and his family, but the extenuating strangeness that seemed to surround the boy and his abilities.

Whatever the outcome for all of this, Severus had some inkling that there would be some disastrous consequences if he did not tread carefully in these assignment to give the boy private potions lessons.

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Draco was somewhat concerned throughout the day when Harry didn't come and speak to him and Theo after the massive upheaval of Arcane Magic that occurred partway before lunch. Originally he had be under the presumption that only the two Slytherins had been taught any of the unique and powerful magic that Harry knew, but if that wasn't the case now, then who had also be given the knowledge…

Outside of himself, Theodore and the adults that had taken up the cause of the warlock, there were none other that had extensive time along with Harry to even merit such trust or magical knowledge…

Then realization struck Draco… Granger… the only other one that fit the conditions was the Gryffindor. She had to have been taught by Potter, and therefore she had to have revealed her abilities to some of the other students, if not teachers, which could only mean one thing. The girl was planning to, or would have to inevitably, share her abilities with others and teach more to be able to wield her strange magic. It was clear to Draco from the feeling he sensed through the Void that it wasn't more Fel Magic, but something completely different.

It was similar, to be sure, but the feeling of the magic was strangely off… or was it more that the usualness of Fel Magic was off from this magic. What he had felt was something purer and more akin to the earth beneath them than the powers of the Void.

Granted, not that the nature of the magic mattered, it was the fact that the girl had started to attract unnecessary attention, and knowing the stuck up muggleborn, she'd start teaching it to as many as would listen to her, making many new Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw magic users, but likely no Slytherin.

There was an unfair balance of power there, with Granger growing in power and followers and soon would eclipse the fledgling warlocks, which would swing power away from them and potential reveal the entire existence of the warlocks and Harry's master plan for them. Draco couldn't stand by and allow this to happen, so he was going to remedy it, Harry's permission or not. Slytherin house would readily welcome the powers that the life of a warlock would offer, and starting in his year, Draco and Theodore could easily start teaching many candidates.

Then perhaps Harry would give the Slytherins and future warlocks the attention that they deserved, over even Granger and her group. And if not… perhaps they would simply have to destroy one another until only one organization remained, and that one would be the group that Harry had to use to fulfill the plans of collecting the items needed by the demon.

As much as Draco suspected the Harry would continue his plan regardless of which group followed him, it was important to him that his family be promoted by this venture. They were already hard at work trying to get access to the Grimoire of Merlin out of the Department of Mysteries.

From what he had relayed to Harry via his father, the task was going to be long and difficult, especially with the British Ministry trying to deny that such a powerful artifact even existed at all. Lucius' influence only extended so far, and even then the Department of Mystery was an entity in and of itself.

That was the extent of what Draco was aware of regarding that situation, but the task was far more important to protect their interest in this mission. "Theo…" Draco said quietly as they were preparing for bed that night, "You felt that blast of magic today I presume…"

"Yes, but I figured it was nothing too concerning… but…" Theodore replied, growing uncomfortable with his original thought. "You don't think it was someone other than Harry?"

"I think exactly that," Draco said, turning away from the others as they entered the dormitory room for the second year Slytherins, "and we need to start sharing our power with others in Slytherin to protect our interests. I'm concerned that this person is going to start teaching their own branch of magic to others in the other three houses, we need to adapt to this new world if we are to compete with the growing tide of new magic. The wand-based power of wizards simply won't be enough in the future."

"I agree," Theodore said, "but who can we trust to keep the secret of our power to themselves for the time being?"

"I can think of a few, Blaise for one, as he's already keeping so many secrets about his own family. He's pure Slytherin as it is. Crabbe and Goyle's fathers are already part of the movement, so they would be safe options, even if teaching them may be difficult."

"So all the second year boys, perhaps the first years can be pressured into silence, and their relatives that are currently in school," Theodore added, to which Draco nodded, "otherwise, after that moment I will confront Harry and tell him what we are doing, and that he can either support us or stand aside and let us grow in power without his guidance. He will have little choice if we are to help him acquire the artifacts for his precious demon…"

"Hey Malfoy, Nott, are you two just going to stand around chatting secretly all night, or can we finally go to bed?" Blaise Zabini said harshly from his bed, where he was waiting to close his four-poster and go to bed once the lights were out.

"If you only understood what we were discussing and its ramifications on not only your life, but the entire world…" Draco said slyly, knowing that regardless of what the boy would retort his interest would be aroused.

"Yeah, yeah, big plans, whatever, I'd like to sleep now…" Blaise said rudely.

Draco simply nodded, and both Slytherins went to bed, allowing the lights to disperse. Draco rested poorly that night, wondering what Granger would be up to in the near future, and how quickly they'd have to move to counter her attempts to promote her group over the warlocks.

It wouldn't be hard if they accelerated as much as possible, but the issue would be remaining under the radar of Dumbledore and the Professors while they did it. Maintaining their wizarding education was the top priority to make sure that no one caught on to their alternative instruction.

As he expected, the boy's tune changed by breakfast the next day, once out of earshot of both Crabbe and Goyle, "So… big plans you said last night…" Blaise started casually, and Draco almost smiled as he turned to look at the Italian boy.

"Well, it depends on whether you can accept some massive changes in you methods of thinking and viewing the world around you?" he said cryptically, watching Zabini for his reaction. The boy seemed to be further interested.

"You must not know me well, Draco Malfoy," Blaise said, smirking, "I've been tired of the way this world is since I was seven, any massive change will only be more interesting than the way life is now, so bring it on."

"Excellent," Draco replied, smirking at Theodore, who had positioned himself on the other side of Blaise, blocking others nearby from listening in. "Then just sit tight, there's a few others we need to contact regarding this thing before we get started, maybe the end of the week we'll start it up, bear with us until then."

"Sure sure…" Blaise said, already turning back to his food.

Draco knew that there'd be a few that had still managed to over hear what they were hinting at with Zabini, but at least they would have to approach him directly to get any details. It wasn't likely, but Draco wasn't willing to let anything slip through his fingers to Professor Snape… and through him to Dumbledore. He would not want to face Harry after allowing his dark and powerful secret escape to their effective enemy.

Crabbe and Goyle were easy to bend to his will, accepting his demand to meet with them at the end of the week without complaint, so long as they got to eat their full double dinner that they usually had on weekends. Unfortunately, Draco did not feel comfortable in trusting any of the others in Slytherin at this time. There simply were too many variables where their loyalties lay, far more complicated than those of the Death Eater parents or Blaise, who had enough discretion to be trustworthy.

It would be interesting to pull off keeping this hidden from not only the Headmaster, but Harry as well. Sometimes the Ravenclaw was too perceptive for his own good, but Draco was only partially prepared for his defense if the other boy was to find out his plan and question him regarding his attempt to form more warlocks.

Although, Draco doubted that Harry could be too upset, as why else would he have offered to teach the other Death Eaters the powers of the Void. But of course, at the same time, Draco knew that his father had all but manipulated Harry into teaching him and the others in exchange for assistance for his connections regarding the artifacts that the boy needed for whatever plans the demon wanted. Draco still wished he knew what hose plans entailed however.