The next night, Cedric was sleeping restlessly. His mind ran with self doubt, whether people believed him was a constant worry to him. A formless worry that shook him. His uncertainty on what even happened didn't help either. The Aurors were no closer to discovering how Harry died, they released statements asking for anyone who might have witnessed it to come forward, although they have not mentioned the name 'Wormtail' yet. Cedric wondered if it was because this was some kind of code name rather than a surname as he once thought. He put this to the back of his mind though.

Rolling his head onto the cool side of the pillow, looking out the curtains into the dim candle lit room, he urged himself to sleep. The next day was the first Hogsmeade weekend of the year, and he was tasked with supervising the third years due to his role as a 7th year prefect. Waking up early to reach the village first, Cedric reckoned he could squeeze in some shopping before the rest of the school arrived. He needed new stationary, and wanted sweets to snack on whilst babysitting.

Entering the realm of dreams, he thought back to summer. His rushed holiday that ended with him accidentally ending a man's life. Whilst Cedric could manage to convince himself it was self defence, he was inwardly aware he did follow them, and confront them on his own accord. His bizarre conversation with Set too, was something he didn't really come to terms with until now. How he apparently met a God.

"I am here." A deep voice echoed through Cedric's head. "In your mind as you dream."

"Why did you come now?" Cedric asked aloud. "Did you know I was thinking about you?"

"I always know. I will give you a gift." Set said, the baritone making Cedric shiver. "She is the Rukh… a thunderbird. The incarnation of one I grant to you, as your protector."

Searching around him in his dreamscape, Cedric looked for the bird. His dreams making a bizarre background of white swirls slowly turning in the sky, like spinning clouds. The ground around him a light blue, and soft like a blanket. Hearing a bird's call in the distance, Cedric turned to find it approaching quickly.

The massive bird soared toward him, it's wide wings were dusk grey with electric blue tips. Sparks tingles across it's feathers as it turned and dived towards them. Grasping the full scale of the avian beast, Cedric saw how it was almost half the size of him on it's feet. It's wingspan much much larger. Sharp almost neon yellow eyes assessed him piercingly. The beak was short and sharp, with a harsh hooked end.

Landing next to Cedric in his dreamscape, the bird let out it's call. The low nasal bray shocked him at first, then as it continued Cedric realised it was not unlike that of a seagull. Whilst it was searching the new surroundings, Cedric took a moment to admire the bird's talons. The feet were a light brown, in contrast to the plumage. The claws were long and black through, hooking round the feet at near ninety degrees.

"She is fast, greater than any mortal bird. Strong too. She will protect you." Set spoke once more, interrupting his reverie.

"Does she have a name?" Cedric asked, feeling bizarre having a conversation with someone in his head, whilst dreaming.

"That is up to you, should you choose to ignore her she will return to me. If then you need her, she will find you." Set answered with finality. "She will camouflage herself to people, to an owl or a gull if required, do not worry about getting unwanted attention. The stronger your bond grows, the stronger she will be. Currently she draws from my life force, but in time it will be yours she feeds from."

"Why are you suddenly aiding me so?" Cedric cautiously questioned. The God was not this chatty in it's homeland.

"The path you are leading is one I have interest in. I have chosen to give you a gift, which means you have an element of my power with you now. Not many mortals have been lucky enough to receive such gifts, not since the golden age of my worship have I even thought about helping someone so blatantly. Allowing you to hear my voice is a danger, those who oppose me might want to use you to destroy me. Though it is of little concern, if you stay away from The Nile Valley, they should not venture out. Only I, the God of lands unknown can travel so." Set said, clearly feeling quite boastful.

"Some other ethereal powers live in this cold land though, in these mountains I feel them. Beings of old, older than The Nile Valley. Be careful child, I fear these things are much more powerful than I. The stench they hold of death is overwhelming, Osiris has had no hand in this though. Something beyond our understanding is coming, I can feel it when it's quiet, even in my homeland. I must go, I fear that it will discover me, I am weaker the further I am from home. Whatever it is, it is most unkind."

Cedric awoke with a start. The light of morning flicked through the curtains of his bed. At the end of his bed, perched on the bed frame was the bird.

"Why don't we give you a name?" Cedric whispered sweetly. The bird twisted her head curiously.

"What about Asis?" He asked, not long before the words left his mouth though, the bird shook her head side to side.

"No? What about… Ola? No? Maybe Janice? Okay no, Princess? Yeah not that one, Kara?" As Cedric said the final name, he saw the bird contemplate it for a second. Before barking happily.

"Perfect. Do you want to get me some books Kara?"

After his summer holiday, Cedric looked through some catalogues for some information that related to his findings. Three books caught his eye: 'Archaic Wards', 'Discontinued Spells', and 'Ancient Witchcrafts'. Whether these would be at all beneficial was questionable. Each one had several notes from the publishers saying things like the some contents inside no longer reflected the views of the company. He privately hoped this was just casual racism, and not calling for genocide. If any of his classmates saw him take an interest in what turned out to be some sort of Pureblood dogwhistle book, things wouldn't be good. But Cedric was sure he could skim over whatever was so bad in them.

Cedric chewed on the idea of not going to Hogsmeade at all. The niggling feeling that people there would be aggressive to him caused nervousness. In the school, the Headmaster controlled the more vocal doubters. In the village however, the only supervision was himself and some younger prefects. He had his shopping list however, and dragged himself down to the village at around 7am. The town was beginning to wake up, stores were opening and the streets were getting a tiny bit busier with the townsfolk hurrying around getting ready for the day. The pubs wouldn't open till around noon, which is also why that would be when it would get most busy.

Entering Honeyduke's, Cedric picked up some ginger biscuits and fudge. Usually he didn't have much of a sweet tooth, the sickly sweets that all the younger kids got made him feel ill.

" 'lo Cedric, you been chosen to keep guard eh?" Mrs Honeyduke asked him.

"Yeah," he sighed faux exhaustedly. "I hope things don't get too boring." He said whilst leaving.

Some time later, the town exploded with noise. Hundreds of pupils rushed in from the path up to the school. The air was thick with the excited chatter of both first-timers, and those who've been coming here for years. Hogsmeade was, in Cedric's opinion, particularly picturesque. The quaint quality many muggle villages had, was exaggerated even more so here. Where non-magical towns eroded, and wore down over time. Each house here looked brand new, each window crystal clear, each door step dust free.

It was as he was admiring his surroundings, when he heard a shrill shriek, and then silence fell, and whispers began. Rushing over to the source, he noticed his fellow prefects trying to usher others away from something. Once he finally arrived, he saw the source of terror. There was a body on the floor. An adult, thankfully. A man who looked middle-aged, with a long metal spike shot through his abdomen. His hair pooled around his head as his lifeless eyes gazed at the sky, Cedric got close to him. He did not recognise the corpse.

"Sonorus." He said, amplifying his voice. "Everyone get back! All students make your way into a shop or the pub. Prefects make a border around me." He shouted loudly, his artificial voice grabbing everyone's attention.

Everyone did as he said, maybe without even realising it was him who said it. The prefects were transfiguring the cobbles in the street into a short fence around two by two metres around the dead man. As they were doing this, Cedric thought to conjure a white sheet and covered the deceased. He thought to himself, as he was about to call for Aurors, what the Headmaster said to him about responsibility. It was obvious that he couldn't 'crack the case' on his own. But he could get a good idea of the timeframe of the incident if he asked some of the business owners and older pupils.

Most of the students he evacuated were packed into the Three Broomsticks, and a few were in a gaudy café next door. So he thought he'd avoid there at first, and headed to the closest open business near the epicentre, The Hogshead. The pub was about as busy as Cedric had ever seen it, most of the 7th Years who were old enough to drink were in here, as the Three Broomsticks never served alcohol to Hogwarts kids regardless of age. The townsfolk who must have been going about there day were in here too, chatting to the landlord. Said landlord was grimacing at whatever they were saying, so Cedric hoped he was a witness.

"Excuse me, do you happen to know what happened out there?" He asked in a polite tone to the tall and broad old man.

"I was in 'ere, and who are you to be asking anyway?" He replied gruffly, sounding impatient.

"I'm just trying to grasp an idea of what happened before the Aurors get here, save them wandering around asking the same questions as me anyway."

"Suppose so, don't think anyone in 'ere saw out. They all said they heard the commotion and went out, or were in here to start with." He said more sympathetically, his low voice still sounding aggressive though.

"Sorry for taking up your time." Cedric said apologetically as he left. The next nearest shops were Zonko's or EB Clyde's, the stationary shop.

Walking into the joke shop, Cedric noted that the owner must have been aware of the situation. The usually noisy store was quiet, the clientele hurried too and fro avoiding each other like a plague.

"Saw Moody, course he'd not do it. Probably telling the Aurors how they could've caught him if only they got here before anyone died." The shop assistant joked after Cedric went over what he needed to ask.

"Him?"

"Well you know, could've been a bird too I didn't see. Hope they catch them though, can't be having murders on your doorstep." Cedric was already walking out the door now, heading to the stationary shop.

EB Clyde was in fact still ran by EB herself, and although she was older her memory seemed sharp.

"He was in the Department of International Cooperation. Came in here for a great big order of parchment. Claimed to be the chap writing everything up about that official who died last year. Crouch I think. The old DMLE head."

"Is that absolutely everything?"

"He also bought two pots of ink and a quill tip if you must know."

Cedric wandered out the shop in thought. Someone was killed who was researching the another man's death. It was quite the coincidence, especially since they died not a five minute walk from each other.

The Aurors has arrived by then, cordoning off an even larger area than he did, and sending most of the students back to school. He didn't expect to find anything supremely useful, no bloodied knife or suspicious behaviour. Cedric just assumed it would be less repetitive. Asking the same questions and receiving the same answers.

The Auror leaning on the conjured fence post seemed impressed by Cedric's aid. He made sure to say that they'd talk to Moody soon, and send Cedric off back to Hogwarts. At this point every pupil was being marched up by a couple trainees, these children the ones who were proper eye-witnesses. Thankfully there weren't any first or second years, seeing someone die brutally in front of their eyes was too traumatic for anyone that age. The youngest looked to be a fourth year girl who sobbed quietly into what looked to be her older brother's chest.

Two days later...

Kara burst through the top window in the Great Hall, and dove sharply upon the Hufflepuff table.

"Bloody hell that owl is a lot quicker than it looks!" Cedric overheard as he stroked Kara's head. Attached to her legs were the shrunk package he had been waiting for.

Professor Sprout had come over while he was fussing over his new belongings.

"Doing a history project are we?" She asked brightly to one of her favourite students, not that she would pick favourites.

"What?"

"The books. All history texts aren't they?" Sprout asked frowning in confusion.

"Oh! Err yeah, but this is more just a personal interest thing. Seeing if there's anything to learn from old magic that kind of thing."

"Well if there's anyone to ask, I'd go to Professor Flitwick. I'm sure he would know more than most on the matter. It'd awfully Ravenclaw of you too, and he'd get a little jealous you weren't in his house." She did not wait for an answer and went over to the first years, who seemed to be the reason she came over.

Cedric took this time to leave the table and hurry to the library. Archaic Wards was the first one he deemed useless. It was silly to think archaic meant anything other than obsolete, and while pretty smart he wasn't a massive nerd and had no interest learning the history of protective enchanting.

Discontinued Spells was more of an index then a textbook. Much more interesting than the previous tome though, half of the spells listed were lost to time by casters that never taught anyone how to use them. Thanking the gods that Aevum would have been at the beginning, Cedric found that book a waste too.

Ancient Witchcrafts was fascinating. Half reference, half stories and myths, it told of many societies and civilisations that had unique and powerful magic. A coven of exclusively sea faring witches developed a potion that turned seawater into mercury for instance. The exact use evaded both the author and Cedric, but both assumed it was for another self made potion that was needed for life without dry land.

It also mentioned a sect of catholic monks who were wizards, some one and a half millennia ago, who created a trio of spells. The monks said that the spells were the power of the angels, and mastery of all three would make the user all powerful. Ancient Witchcrafts nicknamed them 'The Devine Trio', but not much else is said.

Cedric smirked to himself and leaned back in his armchair happily. Proof. Proof that it *was* a spell, and it had a use. Whatever this use could be.

Aevum Lux

He said the incantation over and over in his head. Cedric twirled his wand around his fingers and looked over the original notes he found in Egypt. There was no diagram for wand motions, whatever they could be it must have been described rather than shown. Deep in thought he hummed tunelessly while running a finger over the phrase.

The risk of going to Schweizer was great, he knew that. In the back of his mind he doubted the trustworthiness of the man. He had knowledge of magic but never showed his own proficiency in it. The other person or persons investigating the spell might have him on a much closer beck and call than himself.

There was Dumbledore, like Cedric imagined there would he to any magic query he had. The man was at least a generation older than most people he had ever met. The ingrained knowledge of a lifetime of learning was priceless, but as headmaster of the school, as well as a prominent political figure. Cedric knew that if the professor deemed the topic too dangerous he could quash it by confiscation or even legally.

Dumbledore did seem to have a bit more than an average interest in Cedric though, compared to other students. Ever since the events of last summer he had seen the old man more often than he had all those years before combined. Even without meeting directly, they passed each other in corridors far more than they really should be. Cedric could emphasise how he didn't want other professors finding out about his research, it sounded childish, but there was no other realistic way for a student to convince their headmaster not to grass him up to his head of house. He knew that the chain of command was a wide tree, and Dumbledore was the root of it all.

Sighing, he got up. Packed away all the books and dumped the two useless ones in the history shelf of the restricted section. It would make it a long while before they're found again. There was a misconception that the younger students had about the restricted section. They all thought they were some gruesome instructions on how to skin and flay your classmates. In reality it was more of a dumping ground of all the books Madame Pince had not gone through yet, as well as out of date texts that would be dangerous if you were misinformed. Old potion books antiquated care of magical creatures texts were mainly that kind. It was bewildering how anyone though whipping a Hippogryff would be a good way to tame it.

That Evening..

Prefect patrols were, to Cedric, and exercise in stupidity. Any student that is doing something truly bad knows how to not get caught. In fact the only people they end up catching at all are younger kids who dont know how to silence themselves.

Doing patrols with Charlotte Crawley (Head Girl, Slytherin, pain-in-arse) were particularly draining. She had a habit of complaining, which in itself is fine. Cedric had a habit of complaining too. Charlotte took it too far though, it was hour four out of six and Cedric swore she had said a bad word about every single member of the school.

"You've already whined about Malfoy." he interrupted, speaking for the first time in half an hour.

"Well I'm sorry for carrying this conversation on my shoulders." she snapped back.

"It's hardly a conversation if you're the only one speaking."

"And who's fault is that?"

"Yours."

"Fine." she hissed, as she stopped walking. "Do patrols on your own then."

"Whatver." Cedric replied to her already retreating figure.

Wandering on his own for a bit, he decided to take a break in the old alchemy wing. Some five minutes later he heard poorly disguised whispering from the neighbouring classroom. Cedric silenced his footsteps and went closer to the source, placing his ear on the door.

"We'll get them, don't worry mate. Pissing us off for ages and they've gone too far." a squeaky voice muttered angrily.

"Too right, dunno when Marcia will turn up but she's taking an age. We agreed midnight, all poetic like."

Cedric opened the door very slightly, but did not anticipate the whooshing sound it would make as it sweeped across the flagstones.

"Finally." The first boy said, "We thought you got lost."

Cedric was unsure of what to do and stayed quiet.

"Y'alright? Or you too scared for going out past curfew?" The second boy snickered. "Anyways, we was just saying 'ow some of the older boys in Gryffindor said they'll prank 'em for us. They won't be expecting it in their own common room eh?"

The first, maybe more alert of the two, stepped forward while the other was still talking and took a look at Cedric.

"Oh."

"Yeah. Oh." Cedric replied. "If you're being bullied it's a better idea to tell a prefect or your head of house than to just take revenge yourselves." He haughtily said.

"Oh shuddup will you!" Another voice came from behind them all, at the door. "We've been listening to youse whining for half an hour. Eat stink bombs!" They yelled from the darkness, and multiple whipping sounds echoed in the empty classroom and they fired their bombs at the younger students.

Cedric stepped in, rolling his eyes. "Arresto Momentum. Really? Regressus. Stink bombs?" he said sarcastically while sending them back to their source. Whether they hit their target was unknown as by the time Cedric hurried over there, both the bombs and their throwers were gone.

"Awh Merlin they ran away." He said under his breath as the two kids he protected stepped into the light of the moonlit window.

"That was awesome!" The taller boy excitedly shouted. Calling him tall was rather generous, they were both first year slytherins and didn't reach Cedric's chest.

"Could you show us how to do that?" The other asked.

"You'll learn it in your fifth year, and you'll pick them up quick they're pretty easy."

"Then why can't we learn them now?" The former asked.

"You could teach us if they're that simple." The latter interrupted.

"You could teach us now." The first said quickly after.

"Bloody hell one at a time. And no, I couldn't. It's the middle of the night, and they're not that easy. You are firsties after all it could take a few weeks. Come back to me in a few days and I could arrange something, and not just you two. Bring anyone else you think is being bullied, Slytherin or not."

"Yes Sir." They said simultaneously.

"Please don't do that."

Hey, hi, hello, yo, what's up? I hope you enjoyed this chapter and if you didn't PLEASE tell me. Even if it comes as a threat to my life and you doxx me (just kidding please don't).

Not to get any hopes high but I have pretty substantial plans for this story, I think maybe because it's so 'uncanon'. Anyway all I'm saying is I'm on track to not abandon this fic just yet.

Once more, please review. Like and follow if you want. Love ya x