Kevin Drake was a tall young man with short blonde hair and red eyes. Instead of the standard house robes, he had a long black dragonhide coat, a white shirt with a golden tie hanging loosely from his neck, black pants that actually covered his socks, and dragonhide boots. He had just been taught how to apparate. It is something that he has been meaning to learn ever since he first arrived in Hogwarts two years ago. He didn't dislike using the floo, but it had started to become annoying after using it so much that first term. Plenty of his classmates and people in the surrounding hamlets seemed to be angry whenever they had to use them.
Kevin had quickly become partial to flying with his onyx hippogriff, Caligo, around Hogwarts and to any place he needed to get to. Either him or his Graphorn, Godric, when he needed to get past any poachers who hadn't gotten the message. After the winter term had ended though, the young wizard came across something many people would give their wand hand to get a hold of.
A phoenix. He had been named Clive, after an old story Kevin had read about a hero who gave everything to protect those who were looked down on for their natural gifts. The last user of ancient magic had quickly become close to the phoenix after he had protected Clive from a large group of poachers. Usually, Kevin would try to use his knapsack to drag a magic beast away but he left it with Deek, the house elf. He had believed that he could convince the phoenix that he meant no harm and that the beast should come with him of his own volition. The prodigy had been right. The two had bonded and were now rarely apart. Clive was not just a familiar, he was Kevin's closest friend and greatest ally. The Hufflepuff had learned how to travel using his friend's flames, which were more comfortable than the floo and apparition. In the final battle against Ranrok, when it looked like Kevin was going to fall to his injuries, Clive's song had motivated him while the phoenix' tears had healed him. With this strength, the prodigy was able to gain control of Isadora's repository and increase his own power.
If someone were to learn of this, they would likely think that Kevin was evil and power hungry. This is only half true. The prodigy did want power, he had learned every spell that anyone would teach him from a color switching hex to the infamous killing curse. But he learned these things because he wanted to be strong enough to protect those he cares about. His friends at Hogwarts, like Natsai and Deek, the creatures he had come to care for, and all the good people he had met in his years at Hogwarts, like the goblin who needed help finding his pet Mooncalf. All Kevin cared about was becoming strong enough that no one would be able to hurt them. He was not able to save Professor Fig, so he desired to become stronger.
Nowadays, every student at Hogwarts knew that Drake was the best student Hogwarts had seen in centuries while the professors knew that he was quickly reaching the level that Merlin had set, becoming one of the most powerful wizards in history. But they still didn't know about Drake's most useful skill, the ability to see and use ancient magic. He had spent the summer months traveling the world, finding different sites where ancient magic still remained. It was awkward having to explain it to his muggle parents the first time, but they quickly realized that this was all a part of their son's gift. After all his traveling and study into his powers, Kevin was probably one of the most knowledgeable people in the world about magical theory. The young prodigy had made this his goal because of his dear mentor that he missed even now, so close to the end of his time at Hogwarts.
After the lessons on apparating had ended, Kevin went to the Room of Requirement to check on the beasts he protected when a thought struck him. What if he used his power over ancient magic with apparition? He decided to test it out after feeding and playing with all of the creatures in the vivariums. First, he checked the forest vivarium. There he found the unicorns, nifflers, diricawls, and puffskeins. Next, he went to the swamp vivarium. The kneazles were playing with each other, the thestrals were helping the young, mooncalves were bouncing around with those adorable wide eyes, demiguises appearing every now and then, and the giant purple toads were jumping around and hiding in the long grass. After that, it was onto the beach. Graphorns were headbutting the hippogriffs in a show of dominance, stopping before anything got too bad. Fwoopers were flying with the jobberknolls. And finally, his favorite. The grasslands vivarium. Once someone enters this vivarium, they are greeted with the ruins of a castle on a cliff. A medium-sized pond on the left next to the feeding station. The Hufflepuff had taken in even more creatures and put them in this vivarium. Suddenly, he heard a roar that would terrify most people but just made him smile in joy. A hebridean black dragon landed in front of him and nudged its large face into the prodigy's hand. A Hungarian horntail appeared on the ruins of the castle, thunderbirds appeared on the hills to the west, and nundus climbed up the cliff on the east. All of them had what he could tell were happy expressions on their faces, obviously excited to see the one who worked so hard to save them from poachers. Though he did have to beat them on his own before using the knapsack.
After checking on everyone in the vivariums, Kevin checked in with Deek. The two had become even closer after the mission to rescue Clive. It had gotten to the point where Deek had actually bonded with Kevin, becoming his personal helper. Deek was great with the animals and helped his friend, because they were not master and servant but two friends, by managing things he would occasionally forget about. Mainly reminding him to actually get to class on time.
"Ah, Kevin, good to see you. Can Deek help you with anything right now?" The elf said upon seeing his friend walk up to him.
"Could you show me how to change the light in the room again?" His deep voice sounded over the self-playing orchestra in the corner of the room.
"Of course." A light shown around the elf's hand as he waved it, Most people would not be able to see it but after refining his skill with ancient magic to such a fine point, Kevin could actually see how other magical beings used magic. They had been working on the young Hufflepuff's ability to actually use house elf magic. A lot of wizards looked down on them, but he knew that they were extremely capable and could do things that even wizards typically couldn't. This had been a new project that they had started a few months ago. The prodigy had been busy with other things, so he would forget to work on this. However, he had some free time before he had to sit for his NEWT's.
This was his favorite thing to see change about the Room. After Deek had changed it to night, Kevin took some time to think over how the elf had done it. He then raised his own hand and focused the ambient magic of the Room around it. The Room had suddenly changed to an early morning light with the light hitting his various workstations.
"Amazing!" The Hufflepuff's voice was absolutely joyful.
"Yes, and to do it on your first try! Not that Deek is really surprised. Kevin is a powerful wizard who can do whatever Kevin puts his mind to!" Deek agreed with his friend, eyes widened slightly at his use of house elf magic.
The two looked up when they heard a familiar happy trill. Clive had just arrived from his flight around the beach vivarium sky. The phoenix landed on his friend's shoulder to watch him use this new skill. Kevin changed the lighting a few more times before he finally tried to enhance it. Using his ancient magic, along with the Hogwarts repository, the prodigy tried changing the lightning just to see what it could do.
Suddenly, the entire Room began to shake and the artificial sun above the room went around and round, alternating with the moon. Kevin brought the magic back to his hand and stopped it at night time.
"Is everyone okay?" The young man asked, looking at Clive and Deek. Both nodded, with the phoenix sounding his agreement and Deek going to check the creatures. After he came back and said no one was harmed, Kevin decided that was enough time in the Room and left. Clive flashed Kevin to the entrance to the Great Hall before flashing back to the room. Kevin only hoped he hadn't missed grabbing a bite before he had to take his tests.
The Hufflepuff opened the doors and he saw that it was completely empty. The ceiling was dark, signaling it was night. Realizing he had a problem, Kevin headed to the headmaster's office. Hoping he could trick the headmaster into letting him take the exams again. As he left the Great Hall, he found the house points completely empty. Something must be very wrong. On the walk towards the headmaster's office, it seemed to be too quiet. Even with it being nighttime and the students likely asleep in the common rooms. No, a tedious voice was completely absent. Headmaster Black had been trying to get rid of the floo network in the school so that students would not be able to get away with skipping curfew and pulling pranks on him. The floo network had allowed students to get anywhere they needed to quickly in the school. Even so, there is no way that he would have been able to do this in a few hours. This thought made Kevin begin to run.
"Toujurs Pur!" Kevin yelled out, panting, once he got to the gargoyle outside the headmaster's office. He had been using it to get into the office ever since he used polyjuice to get to Niamh Fitzgerald's trial. Wanted to keep an eye on what Black was planning, in case it could harm the school or students. So, he was hoping that it would work now. Unfortunately, there was no movement.
Worried, he did the one thing he could think of. "Clive!" Yelling for his best friend, the phoenix appeared and flamed them into the office. Upon his sudden entrance, he was immediately met with five wands pointed at him. That he was expecting, he did just break into the most secure place in Hogwarts. What he was not expecting were the people behind the wands.
One was wearing all black robes with slick, black hair that desperately needed a wash. Another wore emerald green robes with a matching hat and round glasses. The next was a plump woman with frizzy hair, gardening gloves, yellow robes, and a yellow hat that looked smaller than the last. After her, there was a small male man who looked about the height of a goblin but with human features, wearing an outfit that would not look out of place in an orchestra. The one that held his attention however was the one behind the headmaster's desk. He was a tall man, long white hair and even longer beard, wore ridiculous purple robes that would have looked out of place in Zonko's, had half-moon glasses hanging off his nose, and did he see a little twinkle in his eyes? How was that even possible? All this was interesting enough until he saw the wand he held. The last Keeper definitely recognized that given what he had experienced during Fitzgerald's trial. He would have to inquire about that later because right now he needed to deal with the people who had him at wandpoint.
Clive chose that moment to speak, or rather sing, and it was a calming tune that soon had everyone there a little more relaxed. Less likely to be attacked, Kevin decided to ask some burning questions. Looking at who he assumed to be the headmaster, the most important question was asked.
"Hi, now this may seem to be an odd question but what year is it?"
It took a second for the old man to respond before he blew Kevin Drake's mind.
"1991."