June 27th, 2011, Hogwarts, Scotland, 4:00 PM BST

I had to admit, I was excited. Despite the strange limitations on charms Dumbledore had laid down so he didn't affect my schoolwork (we'd only be learning a few necessary for combat), I was still going to be learning attack magic from one of the most brilliant magical minds of the last millennia. If anyone could turn me into a combat powerhouse with magic it was going to be the old man.

When I arrived, he met me outside, and then took me to the same third floor corridor where I'd faced the big puppy and entered the catacombs under the school. There was no dog there anymore, just a big empty space, and when we arrived, Dumbledore took up a position across from me, and then flicked his wand off to the side, conjuring a human shaped training dummy.

"Nice." I said with a grin. "Starting out with some damage dealing spells. I like it. So what are you teaching me today? Some kind of crazy fire dragon blast? Maybe a tornado spell? I'm as strong as you are, so I can handle anything you've got in store."

He gave me a kindly smile. "You'll need to learn to walk before you run, my boy. No, today we'll be practicing a standard but crucial attack spell. The severing charm."

I raised an eyebrow. "I already know that one. Daphne taught it to me. We can skip it."

"I'm afraid not." Said the old man patiently, gesturing to the dummies. "Why don't you demonstrate for me."

I shrugged, drew my wand, then flicked it sharply across the length of the dummy, calling out "Diffindo." The severing charm slammed into the dummy, boring into it. It didn't split like a piece of wood on impact, but after a second, the cut widened enough for the top half of the thing to topple over.

"I suspected as much." Dumbledore said thoughtfully. "Tell me, Mr. Black, what are the two aspects that make up a spell?"

This one I knew like the back of my hand. "Power and intent." I said reflexively. "Your average spell is about seventy percent power thirty percent intent. Some require more intent, but its not common. You see it in a lot of dark magic from what I hear, but the intent needs to be specific for it to work."

"Quite so." He said with a nod. "Now, spell crafting is a delicate and complex business, but through repetition and experimentation, we've found that the two factors usually demonstrate themself in very specific forms. It isn't universal, as you've just mentioned, but traditionally one would be safe in referring to intent as governing 'spell duration' while power of course governs 'spell force'."

I sighed. "You made that dummy so it would show me the duration of my spell. You're saying my casting is too intent heavy."

"Not at all." He said amiably. "A cutting curse with such a duration is a useful and versatile spell. Rather, I seek to help you learn WHEN to apply such intent, and when to default to a more powerful form of the same spell. Balancing may not be important for your average laywizard, but it is CRUCIAL in a proper duelling environment." He gestured to the dummies again. "Proceed."

I flicked another cut at the thing, this one slamming into the chest and leaving a long scratch without actually cutting through. That one had needed more intent. I studied the third one, giving it two cuts to make sure it worked, one of each.

"Excellent." Said Dumbledore enthusiastically. "Now the real instruction can begin." He swished his wand like a conductor, and the three dummies dissolved into a few dozen metal bats. He gestured at me, and they swarmed toward me. Since Dumbledore didn't know what I was, using my wings was out, and I cursed and bolted across the room. "Severing charm only please." He said cheerfully.

My wand whipped out, sending a cut at one of the bats, then another. They darted in, biting at me, and I reacted as quickly as I could, cutting them from the air, trying to figure out some way to tell what kind of spell would work best.

As I cast, I felt the process get easier, switching between the two became more natural. It wasn't a direct back and forth, the variety necessitating me to cast two force cuts or two duration cuts as needed. Dumbledore waited until he thought I had it before adding in another several types of enemies.

The bats became force cut exclusive, while the newly added knights necessitated duration cuts. Several robed figures appeared, casting shields of various thicknesses and makeups, and I realized that the initial bats had just been practice testing. This was the real lesson, identifying which kind of cut worked best in which situation.

Despite that, the number and variety was putting me through my paces, forcing me to to jump and sprint and do any number of complicated maneuvers at avoid aerial dive bombs, pikes from knights, and fireballs from the little mage golems.

It seemed like we fought for hours, moving and spinning and slashing, and after a while, even my reserves started to dip. I'd cast the cutting curse hundreds of times so far, and while it wasn't too power hungry most of the time, I realized quickly that I was using more power in the power cuts and more intent in the duration cuts than necessary.

I started experimenting, seeing exactly how much of each resource I needed for each golem type. I modified my casting, learning exactly what I needed to do, until, finally…I looked up and realized there were no more golems left.
Standing in the middle of the room, I was surrounded by metal and stone wreckage, panting as sweat dripped from my face.

A loud clap came from the other side of the room. "Well DONE, my boy." Said the old man enthusiastically. "What a performance, I've known master duellists twice your age who can't hold a candle to such a display."

"So…we're done." I wheezed. "Because I don't think I've got much more in me."

He chuckled. "You are. I'm going to be demonstrating how I would approach such a task. Though I warn you, these old bones aren't quite as spry as you, so I'll be taking a more measured approach."

Another few flicks had an army of the golems conjured again, and a final swish had them all charging him head on. I winced at the sight, the massive stone monsters charging the spindly old wizard, and I was sure he'd need to dip out of his limited "Only the severing charm" approach.

What I saw instead was…slaughter. I don't know if that was the right word exactly, since they were golems, but it was the only one I could think of. Dumbledore's wand flicked out fast, so fast even I'd have had trouble dodging it. A single wave of a tiny stick could split the whole room if needed, though he rarely went that far.

Dumbledore's casting was like an orchestra. A symphony of destruction, one cut taking out a knight's leg toppling the monster into another that intercepted a fireball. A flick sent a slash partway through a bat's wing and dropped the thing on the head of a mage, who misfired into another.

I saw him do even scarier things too, without changing his stance or style. Cuts that severed fireballs in two, sending them splashing into monsters on either side of him, and at one point, a cut the opened up a fucking gap in the air, letting a spear from a knight stab into the emptiness and then out the other side of Dumbledore like it was skipping the intervening space, impaling a bat.

Through all of this, the old man didn't hop around or jump or even duck. He just stood there, firm and relaxed, conducting death itself all around him, until finally, everything was just…gone. In pieces or even straight up rubble.

He glanced around, an absent reproachful smile as if he was chiding himself, then waved his wand and everything vanished.

"What the actual FUCK was that?" I gaped at him. "Was that? How were some of those severing charms? You just cut SPACE."

He gave an affable chuckle. "Language, my boy. This is a place of learning. And yes, those were all severing charms. As you stated earlier, some types of magic operate on intent in a qualitative rather than quantitative fashion. In point of fact, they can all do either. The right intent can alter and transform even a simple spell into a powerful tool of devastating potency."

"And you're going to teach me that?" I'd kind of expected to spam a bunch of high level spells until I could rain down fire and destruction on my enemies, but this seemed…pretty cool.

The old man smiled knowingly. "Not what you'd expected, I assume? But yes, this is one of the fastest ways to improve your survivability. It takes years to master advanced spellwork, even for a talent such as yourself." He held up a hand. "Yes I am aware of your gift for spellwork, barring Transfiguration, which for some reason seems to elude you. But even with such a talent, there are hundreds if not thousands of spells I would need to instruct you on not only learning, but applying. There simply isn't time."

I frowned at him. "Fine." I said grudgingly. "You showed me how dangerous it could be, but I want at least one big combat spell. Something that counters fire, preferably. I can make the stuff myself, but Crouch used some kind of weird green wizard fire that acted like I'd kicked its dog or something. Shit clung to my shield and holding it off was a nightmare."

"He what?" Dumbledore said sharply. Or at least, sharply for him. "You didn't mention that in your story. What did it look like?"

I shrugged. "Evil green fire that had a face?" I said uncertainly. "I was a bit busy trying not to be burned alive. It was powerful as shit, but he didn't seem to have much control over it. Whatever it was, the wards on the hotel seemed to put it out."

"Fiendfyre." He said, his eyes scanning me curiously. "A dangerous and forbidden spell. Young Mr. Crouch must have been desperate. I imagine he was worried about what his father would do to him were he apprehended again. I confess, his survival was a shock to me, I do wonder how Barty managed to save him. Or why, he never struck me as the type. Love truly makes fools of us all."

I shrugged. "Maybe, but the question remains. Can you teach me a way to counter it? Some kind of combat spell I can use that will stop that one if I get caught up with it again."

He thought for a second, then nodded. "I have one in mind. It would be a perfect counter, but it's not often used. Too hard to control and requires far too much power. Are you sure you wish to learn it?"

That hit basically every box I had for a battle spell. "Yeah, of course. It sounds amazing, what's the name of the spell?" It sounded pretty amazing, and I was hoping it was something I could put to regular use. I didn't have many heavy hitter spells, only smaller stuff I could overpower if needed.

He smiled again, but this one was more dangerous, he waved his wand, and a massive surge of dark water erupted forth, forming itself into a huge dark blue serpent. It coiled around him, its body acting as a shield while the top half, a feathered head like a Quetzlecoatl, towered over him, glaring down at me. "It doesn't have a name besides the original incantation." He said confidently. "People just call it 'Aqua Eructo'."

August 27th, 2011, Diagon Alley, London, 4:00 PM BST

Time flies when you're having fun, or when you're undergoing gruelling and monotonous training with one of the world's most powerful wizards. Dumbledore was way too busy to train me every day, but despite his genial demeanor he was a brutal teacher. I'd learned amazing things, and was WAY tougher than I had been, but it had been rough.

As he'd said, he'd mainly focused on teaching me the empowered version of the severing charm, and its more combat applicable brother, the cutting curse. Learning to channel different intents to effect other spells, alter its course, and any number of other tricks.

Of course, that had been when I wasn't training my new attack spell, the staggeringly powerful 'Aqua Eructo'. Now though, it was only three days out from the new term, and we'd brought my new peerage members to Diagon Alley to outfit them for their first year at Hogwarts.

Sadly for Val, Shaggy, and D.B, they hadn't been able to try out all the courses, in their first year, but my mom had arranged for a few tutors to show them the ropes of the various disciplines and let them pick their Majors that way. Val went for DADA to no one's surprise, D.B joined Suzie in Transfiguration, and Shaggy, to my absolute shock, had developed a fascination for potions studying under my mother.

Scooby would be attending as a familiar, which suited him just fine (Sirius had called in a favor with Dumbledore, he and Scooby got on shockingly well) and Tanith and Skulduggery were obviously a bit old for university and would be remaining at the manor with my mom for training, though they WERE going to be getting wands today.

"So this place is some kind of…wizard shopping complex?" Said Val as she stared around. "That's kind of cool. I've been to sorcerer only places like Roarhaven, but that's not quite the same. There's so many things to buy here." She shield on me, holding out a hand. "I need shopping money."

I snorted. "Please, I have three women to pay for, I'm not funding your shopping habit. I'll pay for your wand and that's it."

She scowled, but didn't argue, Tanith, who was behind her, was snickering at her dismay.

Daphne nodded approvingly. "Money doesn't grow on trees." She said smugly and somewhat hypocritically given her own excess. I decided not to call her on it though. I think she was just feeling smug that she didn't have to watch me spoil Val. The goth girl being my Queen had bothered my girlfriend more than she let on.

"Now." I said as I led them through the alley. "What we need to get is pretty simple. Shaggy needs potion supplies, all of you need wands, and we should pick up trunks for everyone too. I'm willing to front the money for those, because they're going to be important later on, but only for the peerage members coming to school with us."

Shaggy raised a hand. "Like…how are we explaining that, by the way." He said curiously. "A bunch of us showing up out of nowhere."

Tracey grinned up at him from his side. "Congrats honey." She said sweetly. "You've been adopted by the Black Family. Sirius is claiming you three are his long lost children that he found out about when he got out of prison. It's not exactly believable, but it doesn't need to be. No one has any reason to question it. Plus since we're all part of Ryan's peerage it's close enough to true anyway."

Val whirled on Sirius, who was watching in amusement, and pouted. "Daddy." She said in a shamelessly sugary voice. "Can I have some pocket money."

Sirius flinched and his face took on a confused expression, and everyone burst out laughing. D.B rolled her eyes at the precocious goth. "Don't torment the poor man. I'm sure Ryan has SOME kind of plan for how we can make some money."

I shrugged. "One or two ideas. The teleportation thing makes traveling easy enough, and with our powers we could make some decent cash hunting dangerous animals. I kind of want to see Skulduggery fight a Nundu." The Skeleton Detective would be immune to the noxious breath, and he was pretty damned strong now.

Sirius cleared his throat, glaring at me. "We will NOT be fighting a Nundu. Even if he won't die from its breath, I'm not sure even your group has enough firepower. Those things require a hundred wizards working in tandem to even injure. I'll be happy to front a small stipend to the others out of my personal vault. It's not as expansive as the Black coffers but I had a few business interests that have been building up some cash over time."

I shrugged. "Fair enough, I'm sure we can figure out some way of making money soon. If you run low let me know. I've got a decent nest egg still." Between my own cash and the Malfoy money I was sitting pretty.

We headed to the bank first, of course, I already had my cash on hand from my pouch but Sirius needed some gold, and he used that time to create new accounts for his new 'kids' and put some small amount of spending money in there, only a thousand each. It seemed like I wouldn't need to shell out for trunks after all.

Once we did that we hit Fortescue's just for fun, and I definitely enjoyed the ice cream flavors variety. Finally though, it was time for us to head in to Ollivanders and get everyone their wands, and I admit to being just a little curious as to what the end result would be. We had five who needed them.

Unlike Seras, who had needed her wand pretty much immediately for training, the others had been able to use some of the leftover wands in the Black Vault (which I hadn't known were there, despite having been told that pureblood families kept wands for kids to learn with) to get a feel for spellcasting until we could come do their wand shopping all at the same time.

It had occurred to us after Seras had picked hers that it might be a benefit to figure out what each person wanted to specialize in before they found their wands. The whole 'the wand picks you' thing was great, but having a direction to go in couldn't hurt.

When we entered, we found Ollivander in the same place as usual, smiling placidly. We made sure no one else was around and I approached the counter. "Ah, Mr. Black." He said in good humor. "Back again, I confess, your consistent visits are something of a novelty, I normally don't see customers again for many years." He smiled at Seras. "And Miss Victoria, lovely to see you again. How is your new wand treating you?"

My vampire grinned cheerfully, brandishing her Hornbeam and Dragon heartstring wand. "It works great!" She said enthusiastically. "Such a treat I brought a few friends interested in getting one of their own."

"As with our last purchase, we're willing to pay a premium for your discretion." Said my mother from her place at the back of our group. "I trust that won't be a problem?"

Ollivander waved a hand. "Bah, I'm a wandmaker, not a gossip. I won't turn away free coin, but I don't go around blabbing my client's secrets to uninvolved parties. I confess to being interested in your little…operation, but curiosity need not be acted on. Now, which of you are in need of a wand? I recognize some of you, the elder Mr. Black for instance, you're certainly looking well."

Shaggy, Val, D.B, Tanith, and Skulduggery stepped forward. Scooby had been devastated that he wouldn't be able to get a wand, despite us all trying to explain that he couldn't hold one. Tanith had offered to teach him to wall run, which had mollified the good natured hound, and we'd dodged a bullet.

Ollivander gestured for them to step up to the counter, measuring everyone out. He paused to give Skulduggery an interested look, but eventually moved on to bringing out wands for everyone. As expected, knowing what they were interested in helped, letting him narrow things down, and I admitted that the purebloods had a pretty good system going.

The toughest part was the wood. While there were only a few cores to go through, wand woods were substantially more varied. D.B ended up with Beech and Unicorn Hair, while Tanith got Blackthorn and Dragon Heartstring. The former was apparently meant for those wise beyond their years and rich in experience, with a core aimed towards stability and reliability. The latter was mostly a wood used by warriors and a core that leaned toward power.

Skulduggery ended up with Maple and Dragon Heartstring, which was apparently a wand wood that preferred those who were well traveled and the same powerful core as Taniths and the same core as Val's, whose wand was made of Red Oak, a wand wood known for picking quick witted and adaptable people with fast reflexes.

Finally, we came to Shaggy. My younger Knight had gone through dozens of wands, each something new and different, and he couldn't seem to find the right fit. Potions (which I suspected he took to due to its similarity to cooking) didn't really lend itself to any wand type, so Shaggy's interests magically speaking didn't help much, and he was stuck trying them one by one.

Finally, he found success with a Cedar wand, one with the first Phoenix Feather core of any of my peerage. When he found it, Olivander looked on with interest. "Phoenix Feathers." He said musingly. "Are one of the pickiest wand cores. And Cedar is often fond of perceptive people with hidden depths. Phoenix Feather wands have the widest range of magical aptitudes. I suspect we will see great things from you, my young friend."

He passed it to Shaggy, who took the wand reverently. I'd done a bit of research on wand lore in preparation for this, and I knew Cedar was considered to be a wood whose wielder would be a scary person to piss off, even if you wouldn't expect it.

It was also noted to be a wand associated with loyalty, I knew that Shaggy was a fiercely loyal person, even if his cowardice got the better of him sometimes. He was the kind of guy to run when it didn't matter, and fight when his friends were on the line. It was part of why I picked him for the peerage.

Tracey, who had been spending lots of time with the wiry hippy, looked extremely pleased, clinging to his arm happily as he stared at the wand in wonder.

I totally got how he felt. Learning you could do magic was just…amazing, and especially for someone like Shaggy who had been adjacent to the supernatural for so long. This must be a huge shock to his system.

With that all done, we headed out to do some more shopping, just to make sure everyone was ready. There were only a few universal items across all of our lists, and I only needed a couple of things for my Charms major. Shaggy ended up having to put in the most effort, given the variety of potions ingredients he needed, but Blaise had been happy to help the Knight out, and he really knew his stuff. After that we all hit the manor for a delicious meal prepared by Daisy.

Three more days until all of us were headed back to Hogwarts, and the new year would begin. I'd be learning Charms, and more importantly ENCHANTING, which fascinated me, and I was sure Dumbledore wouldn't be stupid enough to let someone like Quirrel into the faculty again. Whoever Gilderoy Lockhart was, hopefully he was at least competent enough to help my peerage members get the best out of their DADA classes.

September 1st, 2011, Hogwarts, Scotland, 8:00 PM BST


We were back. It almost felt surreal. The summer had been…big. Lots had happened. Aside from my training with Dumbledore and my peerage, I'd spent months getting to know Sirius, learning more about my dad, spending time with mom, going out with friends and just…living my life. I'd been pretty worried that we'd have to deal with some big crisis, but the shoe hadn't dropped yet.

Shaggy, Scooby, D.B, and even Val were all staring in awe up at the massive castle ahead of us, blown away by the design of the place.

"That is so cool." Murmured Val intensely, staring at the stone fortress. "Like…I've always been a bit disappointed with some of the Sorcerer buildings I've seen. Magic is supposed to be grand and impressive. More like this. And we're going to learn spells here?"

I chuckled. "Oh yeah, trust me on that. I've picked up a ton here." I had a small collection of spells and potion knowledge on top of my mastery of cutting and Aqua Eructo (which I'd been working on infusing with special intent like I did with the cutting curse) and they'd serve me pretty well post Hogwarts.

Val and the others needed to catch up. No doubt about it, but they had all of us to help, and my mom had given them a decent crash course. Plus, with no Voldemort in school this year we could really focus on learning.

I was SO excited about enchanting. Growing up, I'd always loved stories about magic, games about magic, and every other magic thing as much as any other kid. But the thing that really hit me where I lived was magic ITEMS. I knew it would be ages before I could make one of those that would be useful or impressive, but I didn't care. I was going to be an enchanter.

Seras was enjoying the sight of the castle with the others, happy to be back, and Daphne and Suzie were curled up against me. Tracey was huddled next to Shaggy, and I was glad to see the tall hippy had grown used to the dark haired girl's incessant need to touch him.

Tracey, it turned out, was a huggy person when she was with someone. I was surprised to see her settle down, though not displeased. Shaggy was a good guy, and she seemed like she had a lot of fun with him. Blaise, who I'd have figured for jealous, didn't seem to mind, though from his worried looks at Daphne I suspected he had other things on his mind.

Theo and Hannah were enjoying each other's company, and D.B looked excitedly around the expanded interior of the carriage, petting a relaxed Scooby as she took in such an obvious show of magic.

Our group had grown, reaching a full ten people now, but it didn't feel too crowded. It felt like a new beginning, each of us setting off on a grand adventure, sort of like a do-over on my first year, but better because I knew more. One good thing about the Major system was that it gave you a second chance at a fresh start.

When we reached the castle, we all had to split up. Well, not all of us. Val, to my complete lack of surprise, had been sorted into Slytherin. Dumbledore had decided making a big deal of their sorting as second years would cause unnecessary drama, so I'd brought my peerage members to the school and had them sorted in private.

D.B was sorted into Ravenclaw, the first of the group to end up there, and she seemed excited by the prospect of learning more about magic, while Shaggy ended up in Hufflepuff, which was fitting for someone so focused on loyalty.

While Shaggy had the girls to help ease his transition (and a big adorable pup named Scooby-Doo to act as an ice breaker) D.B was definitely a bit more out of her element. The Ravenclaws had never seen her before, and the redhead was one of the more well endowed girls I'd seen, standing shoulder to shoulder with the likes of Lily Moon and Lavender in terms of cup size.

So, naturally, the female Ravenclaws didn't seem particularly enthused at her presence and the males crowded around her trying to be charming and offering to help her study after Dumbledore mentioned she was a transfer in passing. Apparently to Ravenclaw guys that counted as flirting.

Val sat with us, obviously, and her interest cooled after getting into the castle. GIant magical buildings might be new, but people weren't and she knew how to deal with stares and whispers…ignore them.

"So…what do you think of the new Defense against the Dark Arts Teacher?" She asked us, seemingly ignoring the rest of the hall. "I wasn't here last year so I have nothing to compare him to. He certainly seems…"

Daphne snorted. "Like a useless sack of meat." At our glance she shrugged. "I'm irritated. This is my first year studying my major, and we have a useless blowhard for a teacher. Anyone with an ounce of common sense could see he doesn't know the first thing about anything. Which of course is why Granger looks to be panting after him like a bitch in heat."

I gave her an impressed look. "Wow, honey, that was amazing. You didn't mention Granger's ass at all. That's real progress."

She pouted, and the rest of us laughed, though Val looked confused. We had to explain Daphne's distaste for well endowed women, and she looked ready to break down into fits of giggles.
Daphne had been calming down a bit with her jealousy, whether that was because of her maturing, feeling more secure about our relationship, or because she was closing in on a C-cup now herself (probably due to her natural devil shapeshifting) I had no idea, but seeing her relax and let her hair down was definitely nice.

In the background, I could hear the consistent drone of the sorting, and we were keeping our voices down while they called for new students, but we all stopped and turned excitedly when we heard a familiar name called. "Greengrass, Astoria!" Cried McGonagall.

"Stori's up!" Squealed Tracey excitedly. "All of you shut up, I'm trying to listen!" None of us felt the need to point out that we hadn't been talking.

The sorting hat touched down on the younger Greengrass's head for less than a few seconds before shouting. "Slytherin!" Astoria, clearly pleased, hopped up and flounced over to our table. Daphne saw her coming and smiled encouragingly, opening her arms…and promptly scowled as the younger girl hurtled right by her and tackled me.

"Ryan! I did it, I made it into Slytherin! Isn't that great?" She squeezed tightly enough that if I hadn't been a devil I might have been in pain, and I just smiled and ruffled her hair. "She pouted at me. "Stop that! You're messing it up." Pulling back she spun dramatically and stalked down the table, calling over her shoulder. "I'm not sitting with you."

She slid in next to Blaise, who pretty much immediately started sweating bullets as the girl sidled up next to him, smiling prettily as she engaged him in conversation.

Knowing her sister wasn't interested in me romantically, Daphne just rolled her eyes, somehow missing her overtures towards Blaise. "You shouldn't let her act like a brat. It sets a bad precedent."

I shrugged. "She spent most of her childhood bedridden. She had to be the good girl and put on a brave face for everyone while she thought she was dying. She deserves to be a little mischievous now that she has her whole life in front of her. Why do you think I spent so much money on her birthday party?"

She pouted. "I hope you aren't thinking of skimping on mine. Don't forget who your ACTUAL Slytherin princess is."

I grinned, leaning down to pull her against me, kissing her a little more deeply than was probably appropriate. One of my hands had slid up her robe to grope one of her new and improved tits and she moaned prettily into my mouth before I pulled back, leaving her flushed and panting.

"Cheeky bugger." She said breathlessly, touching her swollen lips with a slight smile. She turned to her sister. "Astoria." She barked. "Stop bothering your upperclassmen. I'm sure you have plenty of questions but they can wait."

Blaise, who looked like he was in a cage with a very busty man eating tiger, almost collapsed with relief as the younger Greengrass sister turned away from him sulkily. "I was just talking to Blaise." She said in annoyance. "I'm an adult now Daph. You can't boss me around all the time." Despite the words and attitude her tone was softer than it could have been.

Daphne's relationship with her sister post cure was…complex. Astoria was a bright and energetic girl who desperately wanted to live a life she hadn't thought she would be able to. Daphne, on the other hand, had spent HER whole life since her mother died coddling and protecting her, and she didn't quite know how to let go of all that worry.

On the upside Astoria had been getting closer to Anna, who was a pretty lovely person, and who didn't deserve Daphne's mommy issues. The younger woman had become fast friends with her now more active and excited stepdaughter, and they honestly seemed more like sisters than Daphne and Astoria did.

I turned to look at Blaise, smirking at his misfortune as he glared back at me. My best friend at Hogwarts was going to have a bad year. Over the summer avoiding Astoria had been easy given his teleportation powers and busy schedule, but here?

Blaise, despite his playboy nature, did actually care about his friends. He knew Daphne would be unhappy if he dated her sister, so he tried to stay away (both out of loyalty and a not insignificant amount of fear), but Astoria, aside from being a smitten kitten, was also pretty aggressive. She took 'live every day like its your last' to an understandable extreme.

The worst part was that Stori was gorgeous and exactly Blaise's type, but Daphne would lose it if he hooked up with her, and he knew it. Daphne was understandably feared by everyone in our year, having learned plenty of attack spells from her mother and being more than willing to use them. Blaise more than anyone knew what she could do as a devi and wasn't eager to find out if he could hold her off.

I suspected I'd have to get involved eventually, but for now I was kind of enjoying seeing him squirm. I actually thought they would make a cute couple, and I wouldn't let Daphne actually hurt him unless he did something shitty and broke Stori's heart, but it was fun seeing my normally smarmy friend off balance.

The rest of the meal was nice though. Stori was a fun and upbeat addition to our group, and after the sorting ended Shaggy, Scooby, D.B, Hannah and Suzie joined us. Suzie, appropriately, fussed and cooed over Stori, telling her how happy we were to have her here, and even the little hellion that was Daphne's sister melted under the gentle enthusiasm of our resident cinnamon roll.

Looking around, I caught sight of a few people. Granger, Weasley, and Potter. I needed to talk to Potter actually. Sirius had been sending owls, but hadn't gotten a response, and he asked me to try to make contact with the boy-who-lived. I saw the twins sitting with their sister, who had been sorted into Gryffindor, Ginnifer or something, and I locked eyes with Lily Moon down the table, who I had been in contact with on and off all summer. People to see, things to do, magic to learn. Taking it all in, I couldn't help but smile. This…this was going to be a great year.

September 2nd, 2011, Hogwarts, Scotland, 8:00 AM BST

The first day of class was the last day of the week. With our ascension to second years, we would be in one course per day (though for twice as long) and the rest of the time would be free study. Of course, we'd be going much faster and have a much heavier course load, but I think they wanted us to have time to try to study with friends in other subjects too.

"Welcome to Charms." Said Flitwick as Tracey and I sat down. "Some of you I was expecting to be here, and some of you were more of a surprise, but all in all, I'm always excited to see what a new second year class is capable of. Now, a quick review, who remembers exactly what a Charm is?"

He gestured to a redhead in a Ravenclaw tie, who rattled off the same answer we'd given last semester. "Charms add an attribute to a person or object."

"Correct." He said simply. "Now, can anyone tell me a more advanced application of this?"

I raised a hand this time, and he gestured to me. "Enchanting." I said with a grin. "Permanent Enchantments are Charms that never go away."

"They are." He admitted. "And we will eventually be studying those. But unlike most people think, enchantment isn't a subset of Charms, but an evolution. Reaching the heights of enchanting is a step by step process, learning to apply Charms in specific ways until you can skillfully tie them permanently to an object or person."

He turned to the board behind him, scrawling out the phrase 'temporary Charms'. "Now." He said evenly. "Can anyone tell me the next step in the path to enchanting?"

Tracey's hand went up. "Persistent Charms." She said confidently. "We saw a good example of that in the Slytherin Charms class last year from Ryan, even if it wasn't intentional. The next step for enchanting is creating Charms that don't fade quickly."

Flitwick grinned. "Right you are, Miss Davis. In point of fact, we saw not one, but TWO steps, or at least one and a half. Can you guess what the next one would be, unfinished though it was?"

"Anchored Charms?" She said slowly. "The next step would be tying them to an object to prevent them from being cancelled. The higher level application of this is a wardstone, which acts as a focus for low level building wards."

Turning, he scrawled a few more words. "Exactly. First is the temporary charm, or simply what most would consider a 'normal' charm. These are used in everyday life and don't last very long. Combat Charms are often in this category. Then we have persistent Charms, which are temporary Charms altered to remain in place over time. Then we have anchored Charms, which are tied to an object, preventing their cancellation by an enemy."
He wrote out a few examples. "Anchored Charms are often used, as Miss Davis suggested, in low level wards. But are NOT, for instance, used often in the creation of magic objects. Portkeys are anchored Charms, but expanded trunks are not. What is the difference between an anchored charm and an enchantment, Miss Davis?"

"Anchored Charms are anchored to a secondary object." She said dutifully. "In the case of, say, an expanded trunk like you mentioned, rather than enchant the trunk, you would enchant an object inside. This is dangerous because the removal or destruction of the anchor would unravel the expansion spell with items still inside."

He nodded, underlining the term anchor on the board. "Exactly. Nice to see one of our legacies with such a firm grasp of the basics. Now, someone other than Miss Davis, can you tell me what comes after anchored Charms?"

"Enchanted objects?" I guessed, wanting to get to the actual meat and potatoes even if I wouldn't be able to PRACTICE it for probably months.

Flitwick grinned and pointed at me. "Wrong. In fact, the next classification of Charms is a semi-enchantment. Once you've passed the need for an anchor you can learn the complex spells needed to add a permanent attribute to an item, this is true, but an item with only a single attribute added isn't enchanted as much as enhanced. A true enchantment requires the layering of spells to allow for multiple functions."

"What about people?" I asked. "Charms is adding attributes to objects or people. Does that mean you can't do human enchantment?"

Flitwicks face became more serious. "A good question. Yes, human enchantments are possible, but its a different classification of enchanting. Once you've passed the semi-enchanted category, you reach enchanted objects, which come in several classes themselves, but past THAT you have human semi-enchantments and then enchantments, and past THAT you have wide area warding. Building wards, real ones that don't use anchors, are in this category."

He filled out his list on the board more. "You may be sensing a pattern here. Temporary, persistent, anchored,semi, permanent. Then through the steps again for people. Then for buildings or large areas. It's worth noting that most human enchantments are anchored through the use of tattoos and special inks. Getting permanent attributes to stick to people is…complex."

Oddly, I was pretty sure I was the only person not interested in that aspect of things. I wanted to make magic items, my people were all already badass and could get moreso over time. Human enchantment just didn't appeal.

The last one though…that was what I wanted most. Area enchantments. Wards. Real ones. "Excuse me, professor." I interrupted. "Is there a limit to how many wards can be placed on a specific home or location?"
He nodded. "Another good question. The answer is yes. All objects, and all people for that matter, have a magical tolerance, a substructure in the arcane aspects of their forms not unlike leylines in large areas. Enchanting an item permanently requires you to anchor an effect to those lines or nodes, limiting the number of spells an object can hold."

"Normally this would be a bit too advanced for second years, but I suppose it doesn't hurt to explain a bit." He started sketching out a diagram. "Where lines of power inside of an object or mage cross, nodes occur. Different materials have different numbers of nodes, and are thus able to accept different numbers of spells. Materials like iron are notoriously mana faint, and can only accept a limited number of spells. It's part of the reason bludgers are so…aggressive."

Shaking his head, he put down the chalk. "And that's quite enough about that for today. You'll be hearing more at the end of the year when you make your first semi-enchanted item for your final exam. For now, we'll be taking the next step on the path of Charms, persistent Charms. Mr. Black, can you perhaps tell the other students how you managed your infamous levitation charm last year?"

I chuckled at everyone's curious stares, but shrugged. "Sure. It wasn't too hard. Spells have two components, power and intent. Most spells require a small amount of intent to direct a larger amount of power. The more intent you use the more persistent your spell will become."

A hand want up in the back, and I saw a brown haired guy I vaguely recognized looking judgemental. When Flitwick called on him, he said accusingly in a heavy irish accent. "Everyone knows dark wizards use intent based magic. Like the cruciatus curse."

I blinked at him in confusion. "And?" I asked leadingly. "Criminals also stab people with knives, it doesn't stop me from using one to spread peanut butter on my sandwich."

That got a bark of laugh from Flitwick. "Well said, Mr. Black. Yes Mr. Finnegan, there are many dark intent based spells, but as Mr. Black mentioned, ALL spells have an element of intent. The applications of shaping your spell intent are manifold and complex. To be a Charms master, they are also key. Intent is the method by which we alter and shape spells away from the norm, and this is important in enchanting especially. Given what I mentioned earlier about materials and nodes, I'm sure you could see how different enchantments would need to be customized."

I realized as he was talking that Dumbledore had done more than just train me in combat this summer. Sure, that cutting curse was damned useful, but more than that, he'd found a way to help me get a leg up in Charms without teaching me anything too specific.

He'd been adamant about not teaching me any advance content for my class, and it made me wonder exactly how much I'd been led around by the nose. I was grateful to the old man, of course, but his subtle way of doing things was a little annoying. Flitwick went over what intent was, how to affect it, and what people should be doing, calling me up to the front to show them what I'd done.
My lessons with Dumbledore had been MUCH more in depth than this, but they'd also given me a systematic and measurable approach to intent application, and applying a lasting effect was child's play.

I fired off the levitation spell casually, and the table floated about four feet up and stayed there. Professor Flitwick, in a show of both faith and dexterity I'd never have expected, leapt up into a summersault and landed on top of the table, walking across it to look down on the class. "Persistent Charms." He said, as if he wasn't standing on a floating table five feet off the ground.

After that he broke everyone down into groups of two, one to cast the spell and the other to try to cancel it.

I was working with Tracey, though Flitwick made sure to mention that my intent was abnormally strong and that I should work on trying to use a lighter touch. He conjured a cushion below the table we were using before asking me to try to LET Tracey cancel the spell, which would be tougher for someone like me.

I knew why he was saying it too. Intent exhausted a part of you when used, and overtaxing that part seemed like it might be pretty bad. It wasn't the mind exactly, more like the will. I'd already experienced it last year, and while using it did seem to strengthen it, Flitwick wasn't wrong that learning to use the bare minimum intent wise would come in handy.

That was something Dumbledore had started teaching me, but he'd neglected to go too in depth with it. I suspected that he'd wanted to let Flitwick work with me on it. If he was the Charms teacher and Charms were heavily intent based at higher levels, I imagined Flitwick was the best possible person to teach me.

Dumbledore obviously had a lot of skill with intent too, but as a Transfiguration master I was pretty sure he used it differently. I knew from experience Transfiguration was complicated for people like me who had lots of intent to throw around, and my chances of learning it anytime soon were minimal.

Once he was gone, we got to work. Tracey, though very well versed in temporary Charms, hadn't really started on the persistent stuff yet. She'd spent most of last year learning a WIDE variety of temporary Charms to get us past the third floor corridor Charms test. I'd been incredibly impressed with her showing there, and her quick answers today just reinforced how much she knew about the subject in the abstract.

She had a great foundation, and she picked up the nuances of extending Charms with intent pretty fast. I suspected being a devil gave her a natural advantage much like it had me, but she had much more experience to draw from. Sadly for her, I was still more powerful than my recent pawn, and my 'finite incantatem' dropped the table like a rock every time, right onto the cushion. As she grumbled about cheating bastards, I grinned. I'd been right, Charms WAS fun.

September 2nd, 2011, Hogwarts, Scotland, 12:00 PM BST

"Well that was fucking exhausting." I grumbled to Tracey as we dragged ourselves out of the room. My head was killing me. Unfortunately, my practice with moderating intent might have been beyond everyone else, but my natural instincts were also screaming at me to use more. Devil magic was not restrained or delicate. You basically just did willpower at things until they went away.

Dumbledore's training was for combat, and while I'd learned to alter and control my intent, minimizing it like I had for Flitwick's class was a different story.

Luckily we were all on the same schedule now, so lunch was a group affair. We all met at the Slytherin table, and Daphne slammed a textbook down, her face white with , D.B, and Val, walking behind her, looked more worried about her than about whatever pissed her off. "Morning hon' first day not going well?"

"I am going to KILL Gilderoy Lockhart!" She hissed, eyes wide with fury. "How did you get away with killing a teacher last year? Show me!"

I put on a fake laugh, looking around at the other Slytherins. "She's kidding everybody. Daphne." I said through gritted teeth. "Let's not joke about things like that. Someone might misunderstand and think you're serious."

She looked around in confusion, and then her face cleared. "Oh, no don't worry about that. I cast a silencing spell on this section of the table when I sat down. None of them can hear me." She shot me a haughty look. "Honestly, I'm not an idiot. Even when I'm angry I still have basic common sense."

Surprised, I gave a low whistle. "That was smooth. Wandless and nonverbal huh? You're really on your game these days."

"Of course." She said proudly. "I'm a devil, it's only natural I-" She paused, turning as Suzie, Hannah, Seras, Blaise, and Shaggy sat down. "One second, let me redo the spell." She paused for a moment, and I head a brief burst of sound as the noise of nearby students increased and then dropped off again. "Alright, we're fine." She nodded to the others. "Silencing spell."

Suzie grinned at us. "So? How was everyone's first day back? Hannah and I had a wonderful time in Transfiguration. Professor McGonagall is strict, but really nice. We learned so much today!"

Tracey grinned at her. "As much as we would love to hear about all puppies you taught to read today, I think if we don't let Daph vent about Lockhart she might shiv us all in our sleep."

"Don't be absurd." Sniffed Daphne. "I'm a witch, I use magic to stab people. In any case, yes, Lockhart is an absolute buffoon. I genuinely respect Granger less as a person after watching her simper over him like that busty dullard Brown."

I snickered at that. Daphne had mellowed about her hatred for well endowed women, but basically anyone would be jealous of Lavender. I was curious what the teacher had done that was so bad though. "What's wrong with Lockhart?" I paused. "I mean other than the obvious, no one sane uses that much hair product." I shot a glance down the table at my go to example of that, but Draco was just pushing food around on his plate.

My cousin had been…quiet, since coming back. A part of me felt bad for him, I knew how much it sucked to lose a parent, and unpleasant or not Narcissa had been his mother. Lucius was his parent too, but that gaping asshole deserved every bad thing that happened to him.

Daphne, oblivious to my musings, continued her story. "First of all, he gave us a test on our comprehensive knowledge. I was fairly well prepared, I thought, but when he passed out the test it was just a bunch of questions about his likes and dislikes, with only a few references to the texts for class, which by the way are all absurd fantasy novels masquerading as true stories."

She held up a book violently, shoving it into our faces like a lunatic. Year with the Yeti. One the cover was a smiling blonde man giving a thumbs up, a snow covered village behind him.

Val snickered. "He was a total moron. I wasn't expecting too much, but he blew my lack of expectations out of the water. And he was a pervert too. That Lily girl from Slytherin got called up three times so he could stare down her shirt, and Granger was picked to come up and answer questions a few times, and he kept knocking things off his desk."

"Uptight little swot didn't even notice." Sneered Daphne. "Imagine defining yourself by your intelligence and not even noticing a teacher ogling your preposterous mammoth arse."

Val nodded. "Admittedly, it's ridiculous. The thing nearly has its own orbit." At our flat looks she shrugged. "What? I'm not all jealous like Daphne, but I have EYES. Regardless, I don't think we're going to learn much from Lockhart this year."

Tracey clicked her tongue. "Unfortunate, but it could be worse. Did you all hearing about the dueling club? We can pick up some spells there. Snape is helping teach it."

I whistled, but Shaggy just looked confused. "Like, the potions guy? Why is that a big deal."

"Professor Snape is a former dueling champion." Said Tracey helpfully. "In fact, he's been applying for the DADA spot for years, but Dumbledore won't hire him. A lot of people think he's worried about the curse."

"The curse is a myth." Said Theo flatly. "DADA is a stressful job. Teachers burn out."

Tracey rolled her eyes. "Every teacher in ONE position for the last thirty years has burned out? Hell of a coincidence."

I frowned. "Every teacher? It can't be EVERY teacher. They wouldn't be able to find anyone to fill the position if bad shit kept happening to ALL of them. Like after a certain point there's not enough money in the world."

"It's not always something bad." She said, "Sometimes they win a prize or get offered a dream job somewhere else. Sometimes they retire, sometimes they just get bored and leave, but for the last thirty years no DADA teacher at Hogwarts has been here for more than a single school year. Not even once."

Glancing at Theo, I gave an apologetic shrug. "That screams curse to me man. Once is an accident, twice is a coincidence, three times is a pattern. Once you get to thirty you're basically just in denial."

"Well at least Lockhart is probably going to die horribly or something." Daphne said, seemingly cheered by that fact.

Suzie gave her a reproachful look. "Daphne, he's still a teacher. His position deserves our respect, even if he hasn't earned it himself." Her disappointed frown was devastatingly effective on our girlfriend.

Sadly, Daphne wasn't alone. Seras shook her head, siding with her fellow blonde. "I'm with her. Teachers that leer at students are the worst. Plus he sounds like an egotistical prick."

My redhead furrowed her brow, and I recognized the stubbornness she rarely brought out in public. Fortunately for me, I headed off that argument when I noticed someone heading our way. Two someones in fact. Redheaded someones that I knew all too well. Gesturing for Daphne to drop her spell, I waved them over with a grin. "Fred, George, good to see you!"

The twins squeezed in across the table, between Shaggy and D.B. George gave the busty redhead a wide grin. "Black, you simply must introduce us to your lovely friend. There are far too few redheads at this school. We need to stick together."

"What about me?" Asked Suzie in a hurt voice. "I'm a redhead."

George faltered. "I mean…that is…" He saw he smirk and rolled his eyes. "Oh, well played Bones. Your boyfriend is a bad influence on you."

She giggled at that, but nodded to D.B. "This is Daphne Blake, but we have a Daphne already so we call her D.B. She's Ryan's second cousin, just like Shaggy and Val." She gestured to the other two. Shaggy gave a cheerful wave and Val just raised an eyebrow.

Fred rolled his eyes. "My brother didn't mean to get distracted. He can try to talk to your friend later, this particular visit is business, not social."

"Right." Said George, clearing his throat. "Business. Now, as you know, there are a number of secret societies active at Hogwarts. Though we aren't members of The Red Barons, the Gryffindor society, we've been known to run parallel to their interests from time to time, and as such have received invitations to partake in certain…activities."

Daphne's eyes widened. "Are you inviting us to the Goblin Game?" She said in a frantic whisper. "How? Why? None of us are in a society. Why now and not last year?"

"Freshmen never get the invite." George said seriously. "As for why…someone vouched for you. Multiple someones most likely. You've heard of the game then? All of you? Or do I need to explain it?"

She shook her head. "I can do it. Probably best not to speak so openly about the subject. When do we need to give you our response?"

George laughed. "Tonight at the latest. Tomorrow is the third and a Saturday. Let us know your response at dinner." Standing up, he swept into a deep, sweeping bow, his eyes never leaving D.B's green ones. "Milady, it was a pleasure to meet you."

My redheaded pawn smirked a bit, but nodded without making any comments, and the twins sauntered off, probably to get into some kind of mischief.

Daphne flicked her fingers and the muted muttering returned. I raised a brow at her. "Ok so…what the actual fuck was that?" I was intrigued, I had to admit. The secret societies hadn't come up much our first year, and George's comment about freshmen made some sense in that context. They were waiting to see what majors people settled on.

She blew out a breath. "The Goblin Game is a high stakes poker game held at some point early in the year at Hogwarts. The buy-in can be anything. Information, money, expensive artifacts, even favors. The winner walks away with a decisive advantage for his or her society. It sets the tone for interactions between the societies for the whole year."

"You think Lily submitted us?" I asked cautiously. "We have been talking."

"Doubtful." She said bluntly. "Moon is a freshman herself. The participants in the game are usually upperclassmen. Important and influential people already building factions and alliances outside of Hogwarts. I've heard of up and comers getting invited, but it's RARE. My guess is you got someone's attention last year with your connection to the theft of the stone."

That sounded…complicated and annoying. "So should we go?" I asked her bluntly. "You know more about this shit than I do."

"We have to go." She responded. "At any cost. Even some of the smaller bids could seriously change our status at the school. Of which we have basically none. Slytherin itself has multiple societies and the older students tend to run the house. Freshmen aren't worth anyone's time, but now that we're second years…"

It didn't take long to link the concept to the idea of sororities and fraternities that helped out members after their years in college. I didn't know shit about wizarding society, and having someone to ease me in would be helpful.

"Alright." I said. "But too many cooks spoil the stew. Lets make this a private date. Just you and I." I winked at her, and was glad to see her cheeks heat up just a bit. It would be nice to spend some time with Daphne, especially if she ended up wearing a slinky party dress. Plus, I usually did well at poker. That was two ways I might be getting lucky tomorrow, then. What a fantastic way to start the weekend.

As usual pat-reon has the advance chapters at that site /malcolmtent hope you enjoy.