The time before Diamante had to go to Hogwarts should have been peaceful and simple. No fears, no worries.

Unfortunately, the Wizarding World could not be gifted such mercy.

Andras wrinkled his nose up at the front page of today's Daily Prophet.

[HELIODOR BULSTRODE FOUND FROZEN AND SHATTERED IN HIS OWN ESTATE - JAQUILINE BULSTRODE GRIEVES FOR HER HUSBAND AND VOWS JUSTICE ON KILLER]

Andras flipped to the relevant pages and read through the details - the house had no signs of forced entry or exit - even by magical standards. They didn't steal anything either, which the Aurors had indicated that Heliodor was the target - not his possessions.

Considering the littered books in his personal library and the murder site, they deduced that a fight had started throughout the halls until Heliodor finally met his match - and his end.

Whatever remains of his Wand next to him - the core was still intact and functioning well enough to check the Wand's last spells - a Stupefy charm - supported their theory.

That's not what Andras saw through the moving, magical pictures in the newspaper. The wizards were too focused on the books on the floor when they brought up such a conclusion. The books weren't just knocked out of one shelf, but several ones. Not in chunks, too; small single books with related subjects were tugged out from their wooden hold.

This meant the books didn't fall during the fight but perhaps before or after.

The perpetrator was indeed searching for something. But whether they did find what they were looking for, not even Andras knew.

Andras folded the newspaper further into quarters and looked over to the living room - his kid still sitting on the floor, back to the television.

Diamante, too, had his floors still littering the floors - trying out the spells from the list of charms the first years needed to learn during their time at Hogwarts.

He was a natural, thanks to what he inherited from both of his parents. Andras looked back at the folded newspaper on the table and wished Diamante would stay safe and far from conceited by his talent.

Though judging him, even his talent wouldn't keep him satisfied.

"You have everything? Your clothes? Your cauldron? You made sure to check if you have all your books?"

"Yes, I did! Mom! That's the 3rd time you asked!"

"Well, I say it's not bad to ask a fourth time if I have to!" Emilia replied, crossing her arms.

"I'm sure our son got everything, dear. Let him get on the train." Andras commented quickly, stepping between his son and wife.

The locomotion stationed on platforms 9 and 3/4 let out a loud whistle to respond to Andras' words. Diamante's parents looked at the train before they looked back at Diamante one final time today.

"Alright, Diamante. Guess it's your time to shine, huh? Make some friends! Tell us about them in your letters! And remember: if they ever pick a fight with you, jab them first. They'll probably take their sweet time trying to wave a wand and shout some spells - enough time for the good old one-two."

"Andras!" Emilia shouted.

"What? It's a school; there's bound to be a fight. Emilia, would you rather have our kid in trouble because he got into a fight and lost or get in trouble but still managed to beat the other brat, black and blue?"

"…" Emilia wanted to retort but took a moment to blink, roll her eyes around, and then look back to her son. "Your father's right, Diamante. If you get into a fight, show them what the Corvus family is made of. Just… spells first, OK? It'll look better if you beat them with spells instead of fists."
Diamante furrowed his brow.

"Why do you guys think I'll get into a fight in school?"

The parents didn't give a verbal reply. Still, how they looked at their son - pert lips, half-lidded eyes, one eyebrow raised, and head tilted towards him answered everything. Diamante looked to the ground and kicked the floor. He grabbed his carriage and rolled it fully inside the cart.

"Whatever, I'll send you letters at Christmas!" Diamante shouted behind his back before he blinked and rigidly waved his hands at his parents.

Emilia and Andras laughed, eyes softening much more than before their son stepped onto the whistling vehicle. They waved back, Emilia's eyes already sparkling in the morning sun.

Diamante dragged his luggage further into the train, entering the hallways and disappearing around the corner.

"Surely he'll send letters sooner than Christmas…" Emilia muttered as the giant wheels of the train started to roll. Several other families huddled in groups, waving at their children as they were seen through the windows.

"It's Diamante, love. Of course, he won't." Andras drily answered, chuckling as Emilia sent her husband a glare from the sides of her eyes.

Diamante walked through the shaking hall, looking into the rooms left and right - through the windows if the doors were closed.

Most of them were filled and already had the students happily talking to each other. No space for him, he guessed. He continued walking, dragging the wheeled luggage behind him.

He came across a closed door, and the room inside only had a single girl sitting on the seats.

Brown, auburn-tinged hair in a straight pixie cut. The ends of her hair burnt into an almost silvery green. Her face was buried in her knees, brought up on the seat. Diamante had no friends, but his parents taught him enough etiquette to read the room.

He walked onwards, leaving the poor girl alone.

He managed to find a room in the last room of the cart, walking into a completely empty compartment - promptly lifting up his belongings with ease and storing them in the top storage.

He then jumped onto the seat - floating down slowly upon the descent- and laid down to rest.

It would be a long ride - he'll need the sleep when he arrives at Hogwarts.

But it didn't look like he'd get the sleep he needed.

"Blimey, this is the only one with seats!"

"There was another one back there, you know? There was only one girl in it!"

"Yeah, but she was crying. And I'm pretty sure she would fling a curse with us, judging by that glare she gave us when we tried to open the door!"

Diamante opened his eyes at the two identical voices talking back and forth to each other. A pair of identical red-headed twins, hefting their trunks along as they grunted - pushing the bags up high. Stumbling back and forth to balance the weights over their head.

"Need a hand?" Diamante asked from the corner of one of the seats. The sudden voice of a third party had startled the twins - each screaming in unison as they fell backwards, crashing into the seats as their bags hit the floor.

"Merlin's beard, mate! Tell us when you're here!" One of the twins shouted, while the other looked at Diamante and chuckled.
Diamante looked at the two redheads and blinked before shrugging his shoulders.

"I was here first. Should've looked around more when you came in." Diamante replied as he sat up from his seat, then stood up, walking to their bags and lifting them up without a sweat. "Where did you want these stored in?"

The twins' jaws fell at sight; that luggage weighed roughly a boulder each for them - and carried everything their mother had packed. Ranging from Hand-me-downs from their older brothers to second-hand cauldrons.

And this kid lifted them up and over his head like they weighed nothing.

"Are you a troll?" One of the gawking twins blurted out. In response, the other twin elbowed his brother, prompting a small 'ow! Fred!' from the recipient of the little nudge.

"Sorry about my brother here - he learnt manners from the gnomes in our backyard. You can just put it in any empty spaces up there." The twin - whose name Diamante had presumed to be Fred by his twin's response- replied quickly. Diamante nodded and tossed the luggage into one of the empty spaces.

The twins can ask him again if they ever need them back down.

"Thanks for the help! And- yeah, sorry about asking that. It's just that none of the first years could do that. You… are a first-year, right?"

"Yeah. And you two are?"

"Oh! I'm George Weasley, this here's my brother, Fred Weasley."

"Nice to meet you two."

"…"

"… Aren't you gonna introduce yourself?" Fred asked. Diamante blinked and realised that he never really told him their name.

"Oh. Diamante Corvus" Diamante replied. Reaching out a hand for them to shake.

The twins grinned, and both grabbed Diamante's hand to shake it.

"Well, nice to meet you too, Diamante!" Fred said heartily.

"Funny name, but I'd say it's just wonderful!" George commented - something that earned Fred elbowing on his arm once again.

Diamante stared at Fred before snorting. No one ever said his name was funny before.
Then again, no one other than his parents said his name.

"Don't listen to him. It's a cool name! Sounds like the one those old wizards have. You know- the famous ones on those chocolate frog cards!" Fred explained.

"Chocolate frogs?" Diamante asked.

"What, you never had them before? Chocolate Frogs! Every wizard had to have had them once in their lives!"

Diamante tilted his head curtly, almost a curt shaking of his head. A sign of denial and confusion. The twins looked at each other briefly before looking back at Diamante.

"You… are from a Wizard family, right?"

"Sorry if you're from muggles - we just thought you'd be a wizard, with your name and what you just did."

Diamante rolled his eyes around and blinked them several times.

"No, you're right. Both my parents are wizards. Well - my mom's from an Italian Wizard family. My dad is from South Korea, and he lives like a Muggle. Actually, our family lives like muggles. With Television and all. Only went to Diagon Alley for the first time just a few months ago."

The twins collectively let out a small 'ah' as they nodded. Then they went over to Diamante, wrapped their arms around their shoulders (one beside each of Diamante's shoulders), and patted his shoulder with their other hand.

"Well, that explains a lot!"

"Bet you never went to our Wizarding world, then!"

"You see, Di- chocolate frogs are these confectioneries."

"Magical, really!"

"In every bit of sense! They move like actually frogs!"

"… huh," Diamante replied.

"And you get these little cards in the boxes."

"A trading card game full of all the famous wizards worldwide!"

"Well, most of them are from England."

"But can you blame us? The chocolate's made in England!"

"Oh, OK," Diamante said as he nodded. He understood it perfectly enough now.

"They taste good, too!"

"Try it when you get the chance!" Fred concluded with an excited tone.

And just like that, a great clattering was heard outside in the corridor, with a smiling, dimpled woman sliding back the door and asking, "Anything off the trolley, dears?"

"Well, well, well."

"Would you look at that?"

Diamante looked at the cart the old woman was pushing along - and saw the boxes of Chocolate frogs on one part of the shelves. He immediately answered.

"7 Chocolate frogs, please."

"7?!" George blurted out, eyes widening.

"Di, you better think carefully - they're not cheap!" Fred chimed in, grabbing Diamante's shoulders gently and shaking him.

Diamante fished around his pockets - his mother had given him pocket money on the way to Hogwarts.

And a Corvus standard for pocket money was eleven Galleons.

The twin's eyes bulged at the sight of gold coming out of Diamante's pocket in a handful. "How much can I get with these?"

The old lady laughed as she looked at the Galleons. "My, dear! You could buy everything from the cart with only one of those coins!"

"How much is a Galleon worth?" Diamante asked the twins on either side of his shoulders out of curiosity.

One of the twins was quick enough to rouse out of their stupor but still stared at Diamante as he answered.

"7 Galleon's enough to buy you one of Olivander's wands!"

"I meant, like… are there any lesser currencies? Like Pence?"

"Ah," The other twin exclaimed, finally rousing out. "Seventeen Silver sickles to a Galleon and twenty-nine Knuts to a Sickle."

Aha. Diamante quickly ran the maths based on his estimations - So the entire cart cost roughly 17 sickles or 493 Knuts.

Half of that would be 8 sickles and 15 Knuts.

"Would you have change?" Diamante asked the old woman, who, upon hearing the question, promptly grabbed the apron on her and jingled the metals inside. Diamante nodded.

"Then I'd like to have 3 Pasties as well with the 7 Chocolate frogs," Diamante replied, handing her the single Galleon coin.

The change came back as 16 sickles - Diamante was quite entranced with how the Sickles had small differences on each of the coins - minor scratches and smudges; some shined like new while others had a faded surface.

All took different routes, all to end up in his hands.

And leave his hands another time to travel around the Wizarding World again.

The twins looked at Diamante in awe, ears slightly red but still grinning as they decided to take out their sandwiches from their pockets.

Then, each twin soon found 3 Chocolate frogs tossed onto their laps.
The twins' eyes widened in shock as they looked up at Diamante.

"What? It's for your troubles." Diamante answered as he sat back down in his seat. Taking a bite out of one of the Pumpkin pasties. He then raised one of the unbitten pasties to the twins. "You guys want one of these as well? I'll trade the two for some of the sandwiches."

Fred looked at his sandwich before speaking. "It's not really a good sandwich."

"Yeah," George added in. "Mom's got Percy and Bill to take care of as well. It's got corned beef."

"Dry as bloody hell."

"Hear, hear."

Diamante shrugged. "I like meat anyway. Let's trade."

The twins stared at Diamante as he handed over two pumpkin pasties.

"You know, Di." Fred quipped as he handed Diamante one of his four sandwiches.

"I think we'll be best of friends throughout our seven years," George concluded as he handed over his.

Diamante blinked. No one had ever said that to him before. He never actually expected to make any sort of friends this fast. He thought it would take much more effort. He didn't know what to say back - the warmth spreading in his chest was enough. Diamante smiled at that as he took a bite out of the sandwiches. They were right - the corned beef was dry. But he didn't mind it. It was his newly made friends. And that meant it was more than enough.

"Yeah, honestly. Even if you become a Slytherin, we'll stick with you."

"Yeah! We'll even defend you from the rest of the Gryffindors!"

"In our honour!"

"Hear, hear!"

"Slytherin?" Diamante asked them as he went in for a second bite of the pumpkin pasties. As Diamante asked, the Weasley twins had decided to open up one of the chocolate frogs to eat with their sandwiches and pumpkin pasties. Their ears perked up as they nodded.

"Oh yeah, you don't know Hogwarts, do you?"

"I've read the books. I know Slytherin and Gryffindors are two of the four houses."

"Ah, but the books don't tell you about the house rivalry, do they?" Fred asked, one eyebrow raised as he wagged his finger at Diamante.

Diamante tilted his head curtly once more.

"You probably know that Slytherin had a lot of dark wizards."

"Including You-know-who."

"And the Death eaters!"

"So Slytherin's just plain evil. Even the founder of the house wasn't a good bloke."

"So that's where the mighty Gryffindors come in!"

"With courage!"

"Bravery!"

"And the adventurous spirit!"

"To beat back those nasty Slytherins before they can do anything to the other houses!" The twins chorused.

"And muggle-born classmates!" George concluded - hand clenched into a fist and raised in triumph - a perfect position for letting the chocolate frog jump out of the box and straight towards the open window. Fred and George noticed the frog's escape too late - and all they could do was see the frog head to the windows, out of their reach.

Diamante immediately reached out and caught the lunging chocolate frog mid-air and, just as quickly, threw it back into its opened box held in George's hands.

"Whoa!" Fred exclaimed as he looked into George's box. The chocolate frog was slightly cracked but still intact. George quickly fisked into the box, grabbed the chocolate frog, and ate it. "Bloody hell, mate! That's a reflex!"

"Mmmh!" George exclaimed before he swallowed the frog and chimed in further. "You could be a quidditch star with reflexes like that!"

"He could definitely be a seeker!"

Diamante chuckled at the twin's energetic antics, sitting back in his seat. "Nah, don't have much interest in quidditch. And I'd rather see what the Slytherin students are like with my own eyes before I judge."

"Oh, that's blasphemy!" George said with a fake cringe.

"Eh, suit yourselves. I know you're a good enough bloke." Fred replied as he quickly grabbed his chocolate frog to eat. "How are you that fit, anyway? You're strong enough to lift our trunks and fast enough to catch these frogs."

"My dad. I told you guys that he's from South Korea, right?"

"Yeah."

"He lives like a muggle, right? That's what you said."

"Yeah, this is how Korean Wizards use their magic."

"What, making you stronger and faster?"

"Most of the time. They can cast magic like the Western wizards here, but the simplest ways of using it are physical."

The twins looked at one another and grinned at the explanation. "Guess they're all good at Quidditch, huh?"

"Glad that the Chudley Cannons aren't facing any of them. Ron would've hated them."

"How were you guys so sure that the two of you would be put into Gryffindor?"

"You kidding? We're the Weasleys! All of us are in Gryffindor!"

"What about you, Di? You have a house you want to go into?" George asked as he took a bite out of his pumpkin pasty. Diamante crossed his arms as he looked out the window. The countryside was already widened into green fields, with hills, rivers, trees, and even a mountain in the distance. The sun was setting over the horizon, casting giant shadows and painting the sky orange to dark blue.

"Probably Ravenclaw."

"Ravenclaw?"

"Thought you might be a Gryffindor as well."

"Eh." Diamante let out as he shrugged his shoulders. "I'd rather try and learn."

"Learn what, magic?"

"Everyone learns magic, Di. That's why they go to Hogwarts."

Diamante grimaced. "I mean, not really?"

The twins raised their eyebrows in confusion. Diamante raised his hands and waved them around.

"They teach you how to pronounce spells and wave your wands. But they don't teach you 'why' you need to do that or 'how' that turns magic into spells. It's just a monkey see, monkey do. I want to learn 'how' magic works. 'How' a swish and flick can be translated into a levitation charm. 'Why' brewing asphodel and wormwood can make someone fall asleep. 'Why' electricity doesn't work in Hogwarts. 'What' is the bare essence and mechanism of magic. You know?"

The twins were nodding their heads before they grinned.

"So you want to uncover the mysteries of magic, is that right?" Fred asked.

"Yeah. Yeah, you could say that." Diamante answered.

"That means you're gonna go on an adventure?" George asked. Diamante rubbed his chin before he answered.

"If that'll give me the answers."

Fred turned to George.

"See? I told you he was Gryffindor material."

"You know I was the one that said that, right?" George playfully quipped. Diamante watched the twins as he opened his box of Chocolate frogs and took a bite out of its head.

The chocolate was standard - nothing too special about them. The card he took out of the box was much more interesting to him.

NICOLAS FLAMEL

GREAT ALCHEMIST, THE OLDEST LIVING WIZARD

Considered by many the greatest Alchemist to have ever existed - amounted to his achievement in the creation of the Philosopher's Stone and, from it, the Elixir of Life. This alchemical creation contributed to his and his wife Perenelle Flamel's longevity against the passage of time, making him an example and the goal for modern alchemists.

Diamante looked back at the photo of Nicolas Flamel in the card and soon chuckled when he saw the card to be empty.

"I still don't know how they do this."

"Do what?"

"Make the pictures move?"

"It's normal, right?"

"They made a mind of their own with magic. Not really life, but still - something that can think and talk and move in a picture." Diamante muttered. Even films had trouble making something with this much freedom in a frame. "How do they do that?"

The twins shrugged their shoulders, returning to eating and enjoying the view outside.

Roughly an hour later, the three had fallen asleep in their seat - the sun was slowly disappearing from the hills.