The Boys Who Lived

CHAPTER 23

Sunday they got up at their usual early hour and did their normal routine. Harry noticed Christian standing off to the side trying to figure out what to do as he watched everyone picking their partners to spar with and getting ready to fight, Christian was left out in left field here, and had no one to spar with, so Harry took him over to Susan and Cedric and asked if they would mind a third. They had no problem with it, and they took turns back and forth between the three of them sparing. They seemed to do pretty good. From what Harry could tell, Christian wasn’t that bad, although he had a ways to go before he reached either of their skill level he could still hold his own against them but they knew better than to hold back anything either. That would only irritate him and Harry both. So they went all out on both Christian and each other, like they normally did, and had a ball at it. Christian learned a thing or two and Cedric learned a few dirty tricks about street fighting as well.

After a quick shower they all headed down to breakfast and were laughing and cheerful. “Sundays are pretty much a down day for everyone, we either spend time with family, do homework or spend time with the Darcorns or all three. We make sure we have time for our families no matter what though, and even if you have only been here a day…you are now family whether you like it or not. So you get to meet the youngest of out herd. Lilian, Astraea, and Sebastian. Lilian is Neville and my little sister, Astraea and Sebastian are Luna’s little brother and sister, they are twins. The little monsters were all born right around the same time and are our youngest members to the family, and you have already met Matthew and James. My little brothers. So we always set aside some time to be with the family on Sunday and usually do homework at the same time.” Harry explained.

“Then when we get tired of just hanging around we head down to the Darcorns and muck out stalls and exercise our mounts and the fouls for a while. Maybe even play some music for them. You would be surprised how much they love music.” Neville stated.

“Boy do they ever, the mares all get dreamy eyed and start swaying to the music and the foals just start dancing around. They can be so cute.” Susan laughed.

“Sounds like a plan to me.” Christian stated. As they sat down to breakfast.

So that is exactly what they did they after breakfast they went over to the Longbottoms and did a bunch of homework until lunch and then after lunch headed down to the stables where they played music for the Darcorns and then rode them around for a while and played with the foals, who were getting quite big by the way. Then they mucked out stalls and brushed down the Darcorns and fed them and headed up to the rooms to take a shower before dinner. After dinner they worked a little more on homework until most of it was finished and started an impromptu game of poker which Christian did pretty good at. At least he held his own in it. They all ended up staying awake until about midnight then heading off to bed. Tired after a long day, they all were exhausted and fell asleep quickly.

They only had two weeks before end of term so the kids expected a lot of homework and some rough classes this week. Because next week was going to be test for the end of term tests…ick. And then Christmas Holidays thank goodness.

The next morning they headed off to classes and Professor Sprout gave Christian his class schedule at the breakfast table, it looked like an exact copy of Cedric so that would make everything so much easier. He was even excited about taking Archery on Saturdays, he said he was pretty good at it already, but he could always use the practice. So Christian just followed Cedric off to classes while everyone else headed to their respective classes.

In Charms class they were suppose to learn how to do a cooling charm which right now was totally useless, but they were also going to learn to do a warming charm as well. Which was totally cool. In a drafty old castle, oh yeah, that would be very helpful. You just had to remember to cast it before you left the classrooms and not cast it in the hallways, is all.

In Transfigurations class they did Mus-Enuncto-Capsa which was turning a mouse into a snuff box. Some of the snuff boxes were very well decorated and interesting. Although Seamus’ kept sneezing and squeaking. The other transfigurations didn’t have issues such as that at least. Even Lavender managed to get a fairly decent snuff box, a little plain but she is trying, she had it matching the basic pin stripe pattern of a high fashion out fit.

At lunch Cedric and Christian came in laughing and sat down, Harry of course asked what was up and Cedric told him that he had told Christian about the Rider’s spell they had done in Transfiguration the other day and that Christian was teasing him about the plushie he had made. Christian said he would have given every penny he had, if he had known that transfiguration at the orphanage that he had come from. That made Harry want to go out and visit more orphanages and get to know the kids out there a little and give them all some plushies. But what good is a plushie when you don’t have enough food on the table. It was a hard choice to make, one was hopes and dreams and the other was a necessity. And necessities came first, but maybe they could just go to the orphanage that Christian came from, maybe that one wouldn’t be to much of a burden on their budget. He would have to think about it.

In Defense Against the Dark Arts they worked on the Confrigo Curse which is a powerful blow apart curse. It works anywhere from a small fire cracker to a grenade depending on how much power the caster has put behind it. Most of the class was spent on trying to get people to either put more magic into their spell or trying to get them not to put so much power into the spell. The spell works just like Harry and Neville’s black sphere they make so they had that one down pat. They knew about how big to make the sphere to blow apart the target and how much magic that would take and just switched that over in their head’s to how much magic they should be using behind the spell, and viola the right strength for the right size target; without demolishing the wall behind it like Seamus had done. That boy definitely needs to learn to tone it back on his spells some. Puberty sucks, that’s a fact, and Seamus keeps going between barely enough magic to light a lumos, to denting the wall behind a confringo target. That is not going to make the house elves very happy that they have to repair that. Oh well.

In numerology they were working on Angel numbers she called them. Professor Vector stated that seeing the same number multiple times in any arrangement such random places like a receipt for something you purchased or on a sign you saw, if it stirs a sense of wonder or curiosity it can be considered an Angel number. It is something that is a the universe’s way of giving you a gentle reminder or offering an intentional push in a certain direction. Like three Zero’s in a row is suppose to be a sign that opportunity is coming, and three one’s in a row is a sign of new beginnings. If you see three two’s in things then that is suppose to signify the desire for unity. A need to be near someone or with someone. If you see three’s, it is all about the desire for growth. You feel as if you are stuck in a rut and you feel the need for change and growth. If you see three four’s, well that is a sign of transformation, big change is coming. It is a sign that some of your hopes and dreams may be about to becoming to fruition. Professor vector went through all the possible number sequences that were major ones and had anyone that had a major one in any sequence raise their hand then they talked about it and discussed if they thought it matched with the rendition of these interpretation of Angel numbers.

She stated that it was an early Greek philosopher by the name of Pythagoras was a brilliant mathematician who came up with the original theories about Angel numbers, and an individual by the name of Doreen Virtue who expanded on the theory in the two thousands and made the idea popular in the metaphysical community and as such within the Wizarding community. Angel signs, unlike the zodiac signs, astrological birth charts or even calculating your life path numbers in numerology, Angel numbers are not determined by your date, time, or location of your birth. They are like a mystical signature the Universe leaves you when it wants to give you a hint or a little advice. No one Angel number is more mystical or more important than any other. Or holds a more powerful message, it is all what the numbers represent to you in that specific moment of time. While your zodiac sign can give hints about your personality and likes, or dislikes, tastes, and preferences. Angel numbers don’t shed light on your identity, but rather on how you are moving through the world and how the world is effecting you. They can appear anywhere, addresses, price tags, clocks, receipts, even on pages in a book. The whole idea with Angel numbers is that they are merely a guide, a gentle push. And should be viewed as such, not as the voice of the gods or anything else. Unlike one’s star charts which are quite literally written in stone, an individuals Angel numbers are very fluid and ever changing.” Explained Professor Vector

The day had been really interesting and Harry and the others headed back to Sirius’ room to do their homework and to work on a few things. Tomorrow they had a report on Gillyweed due in Herbology that Harry still needed to finish and he was working on a drawing he was doing for the class he was hoping it would get him some extra credit in the class, maybe. He, Neville, Pavarti and Luna were working on templates of the different plants they were covering in class and they were going to put them together at the end of the year into book forms and hope to get a few points if possible from Professor Sprout from it. So far he had Shrivelfig, Devil’s Snare, Bubatuber, Gillyweed, Aconite, Dittany, Aloe Vera, Wiggen Tree, and Alihotsy. He hoped to have all they were going to have studied drawn up and finished by the end of the year. He was almost finished with the Gillyweed he just needed to do the shading on it and it was done.

Neville of course was way far ahead of him, he had already finished those and had worked on the Mimbulus Mimbletonia, Moly, Whispering Willows, and Perspiring Plumbs, he was working on his last Templet now and that was the Wandering Water Lily Pads. As far as he knew that should be a complete list of all the plants we are suppose to study this year. At least that is what the syllabus stated anyway. Neville loved doing this project, he loved doing any project relating to Herbology really. But this kind of a project brought out the artist in him as well and he did very good at it. He practically had a style of his own, he could make the plants seem almost life like, like they could nearly jump off the pages at you and hop right into the flower pots, if you had them ready. He had always had an eye for nature and it showed in his drawings.

Christian showed Harry and the gang some of his pictures he had drawn of Darcorns and they were surprised at how talented he was. They looked like photographs, and they told him so, which made him blush deeply. He said he loved to draw, he wanted to stop somewhere and get one of those fancy pencil sets that had all the colors and charcoals and all but he hadn’t had a chance yet. Harry made note of what to get Christian for Yule and thought they should all go in together and get him really set up.

Cedric’s talent lay more in music, he could hear a song played and he could repeat it back to you note for note. He had always had the ability to do so. He had a marvelous ear for music and was a brilliant guitarist. He could paint some but he couldn’t draw at all. He used to tease some that he couldn’t even color within the lines, but he could paint right over them if you give him the opportunity.

Now the painter in the group, that was Luna. She could look at something and practical paint a photograph of it, from what she saw in her mind. She would either make it look exact like it was, alive and leaping of the canvas she was painting on, or wild and imaginative, but you could definitely still tell exactly tell what it was, if it just had wild and crazy colors that came from somewhere in Luna’s mind at that moment that even Harry had no clue about. Harry though it might be a form of Mage sight, with the bright neon colors and sharp crisp lines and all. Who knew.

They all pretty much finished up what they were working on and headed to bed, it had been a long day after all.

In Herbology they started with the study of Beaumont Marjoribanks who was born in seventeen-forty-two and a pioneer in the field of herbology, having collected many rare magical plants and flowers. He was the first individual to discover Gillyweed. Although he is the one given the credit for discovering Gillyweed it was actually Elladora Ketteridge that is said to have discovered its effects about a century earlier, and would have been given credit if she had been alive at the same time as Marjoribanks. As it is, he is given credit for its discovery while Ketteridge discovered its magical effects.

Now gillyweed is a magical plant that when eaten can allow the human to grow gills that allow them to breath under water, and webbed feet and hands that allow for better swimming, it also allows for a certain resistance to the cold temperatures of the water that would be natural in fish, or merfolk. Its natural environment is the Mediterranean Sea, and lives best in a salt water environment. It has rat tail like leaves that are quite slimy and making it rather unappealing to consume. It is debatable the difference of time that the effects the altered state of being is present in salt water compared to fresh water but it is said to be nominal difference lasting only a few minutes if that.

Gillyweed is used in several potions and in many consumables such as Gillywater, and Gillyweed tonic.

History of Magic was about Minister Artemisia Lufkin, who was born in seventeen-fifty-four somewhere in the British Isles, it is not known if she was a half blood or a pure blood but to be honest that is irrelevant. She attended Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry from seventeen-sixty-five to seventeen-seventy-two. And was a proud Hufflepuff to boot. She became Minister for Magic, becoming the first women to ever hold that position in seventeen-ninety-eight, at the age of forty-four and held the office until eighteen-eleven. She died when she was seventy to seventy-one years old in eighteen-twenty-five. During her distinguished time as Minister she established the Department of International Magical Co-operation and lobbied hard to have the Quidditch World Cup to be brought to Britain during her term.

Luna raised her hand, “Was Ms. Lufkin ever married, everywhere that I researched it has the prefix of Ms. But it never mentioned a maiden name, or a husband’s name anywhere that I could find?”

“No she wasn’t. The ‘Ms.’ was honorary, due to her advanced years, instead of calling her Miss Lufkin they chose to call her Ms.” Professor Lupin stated.

Seamus raised his hand. “Did she ever get the World Cup to Britain while she was alive?”

Professor Lupin nodded his head. “Yes, she did. As an avid fan of the sport she managed to successfully lobby the World Cup to Britain in eighteen-zero-five, although Britain didn’t get to host the World Cup again until nineteen-sixty-four. And before you ask, yes, it is set to host the World Cup next year.”

Pavarti raised her hand, “Is she the only female Minister for Magic, Britain had?”

“No, she was just the first. There was Josephina Flint in eighteen-nineteen to eighteen-twenty-seven, then Hortensia Milliphutt between eighteen-forty-one and eighteen-forty-nine, Evangeline Orpington between eighteen-forty-nine and eighteen-fifty-five, Priscilla Dupont between eighteen-fifty-five and eighteen-fifty-eight, Venusia Crickerly in nineteen-zero-three until nineteen-twelve, Wilhelmina Tuft from nineteen-forty-eight until nineteen-fifty-nine, Eugenia Jenkins from nineteen-sixty-eight until nineteen-seventy-five and Millicent Bagnold from nineteen-eighty through nineteen-ninety. So you see the have had multiple female Ministers over the years and each has had a wonderful history behind them, some more than others, but each are fascinating if you would like to look them up in the library. Nine female Ministers for Magic out of thirty-two is not a bad at all.” Professor Lupin recited all the the names and dates from memory without a problem, leaving some students scratching their heads and the rest feverishly writing down every word he said.

Micheal Corner raised his hand. “Who held the office the longest, Ms. Lufkin?”

“Yes, she held it for thirteen years, which is two years longer than anyone else. The next in line is Wilhelmina Tuft with eleven years, and most recently Millicent Bagnold with ten years.” Professor Lupin stated as if he expected that to be the next question.

Harry raised his hand, “I’m assuming that since she was never married, that Ms. Lufkin never had any kids right?”

“That’s right, nor did she adopt or mentor any that are mentioned anywhere that I have been able to find.” Professor Lupin stated.

Mandy Brockenhurst raised her hand, “I found several places that said she could be of either British or Irish decent but there was nothing that I found that was sure as to which. Is there anything that specifies which?”

Professor Lupin shook his head. “Not to my knowledge. It has always been controversial as to her heritage, so I am assuming it is a bit of both, they just don’t want to bring up that possibility.”

Hermione Granger raised her hand, “How did Ms. Lufkin pass away, I really couldn’t find anything specific on her death.”

“She died of a rare heart defect that wasn’t detected until after her death, unfortunately. It appeared to be something to do with her heart valves not closing properly, but the specifics I honestly don’t know.” Professor Lupin stated.

The bell rang and Professor Lupin let them know they would be studying Dorcus Wellbeloved and the Society for Distressed Witches for their next class. And dismissed the class.

Lunch was a lively affair, everyone was talking about one class or the other, the twins had finally gotten their turn at the Transfiguration class that got to make the Rider’s plushies and they were telling how everyone was loving it and about the plushies that they made, they even showed them off at the lunch table. A pair of practically identical Darcorn foals, they looked like the plushie version of their own foals. It was so cute it was disgusting.

“Potions class was all about the Wide-eye Potion also know as the Awakening Potion. This potion is what you give to someone that has a concussion or who has been drugged, it has also acted as a antidote for the Draught of Living Death although later the Wiggenweld Potion became more popular due to its healing nature as well as awakening abilities.”

On the board it wrote…

It requires:

PART 1

Six snake fangs,

Four measures of Standard Ingredient(1)

Six dried Billywig Stingers

Two sprigs of Wolfsbane

First you start with your standard base and set it to a medium temperature, you place the snake fangs and standard ingredient into the mortar and begin to crush them, while you are doing that place the Billywig Stingers into the base in your cauldron. Crush the ingredients in your mortar into a fine powder and add to your cauldron.

Stir three times clock wise.

Then place in low heat, leave to brew and return in eight hours if you are using a copper cauldron, fourteen hours if you are using a brass cauldron and twenty three hours if you are using a pewter cauldron.

PART 2

Add two sprigs of Wolfsbane to the cauldron

Stir three times counter clockwise

Release potion from heat.

Harry read the instructions through a couple more times and raised his hand. Professor Lovegood nodded towards him and he asked, “How are we going to make this potion? It has to have the second part put in within twenty three hours after the first part is done.”

Professor Lovegood smiled, “Good catch, I am going to come in here and put everyone’s potion in stasis at that point and then you will be able to come back to it and pick it up right at the opportune moment. I have used this method on this potion several times, and it works out just fine. It doesn’t dilute the strength at all nor does it effect its ability to work properly. So let’s get started shall we. And watch those stingers, wear your gloves with those at all times.”

With that everyone nodded and began to get up and gather their ingredients, calibrate their scales, wipe their equipment down and set their base to heat.

It was a quiet and focused class with everyone concentrating on what they were brewing this time, even Finnigan. Professor Lovegood was standing right over him, helping him through each step, and making sure that he didn’t mess up anywhere, which was lucky considering he almost did a couple of times.

Harry had just placed his cauldron to brew on a low heat as the bell for the class rang, thankfully he was the last of the four to get to that stage. It looked like some of the Slytherins managed to get to that stage but there were a couple that were not at that stage yet, and Professor Lovegood stated she would monitor their potion until it was time to put them into stasis then do so. Which was a relief for those students that were running a little behind.

(1) According to https://harrypotter.fandom.com.wiki.wideye_potion

Ancient runes was going to be about Wunjo (W) today. The last rune in Freyja or Freyr’s Aett. Professor Babbling was all smiles as usual and started, “Wunjo is all about joy and success, it is focused on the attainment of personal goals and achieving that which you desire. In Old Norse its roughly translated into ‘joy’ or ‘bliss’. Now it is representative of the letter ‘W’ in the alphabet and is the eighth rune in the Elder Futhark alphabet. We can find it all the way back on ancient artifacts dating as old as two thousand years old. It has been associated with the fulfillment of a dream, the reward at the end of a journey or the realization of a wish. This rune is also linked to harmony and well-being, reflecting a state of contentment and peace. It is a reminder of the happiness in life and joys in life and the rolls they play in a fulfilling existence. It is said that Wunjo is there to remind us that life isn’t all about struggle and strife, but about obtaining your goals, finding joy and satisfaction in your life.”

Harry raised his hand, “So if I was looking for a rune to represent fulfilling a journey I would use this one, right?”

“That’s right, you would use this one on any trip that you had a goal or objective in mind, this would be the one to use.” Professor Babbling stated.

Pavarti raised her hand, “Would you put the Wunjo at the beginning of the array or at the end?”

“I would put it at the end of the array, I would put a rune of protection or what you are looking to achieve, like knowledge, riches, or fame at the first of the array and then your power rune then finally the Wunjo rune as what you wanted the end result to be.” Professor Babbling stated then she put up a three rune array on the board with Fehu, Ehwaz, and finally Wunjo. “Something along these lines would be appropriate,”

Zabini raised his hand, “Would this Rune be used in Divination and if so how?”

“My goodness yes, a lot of the people use it to represent the oncoming of wealth and a period of happiness.”

“Alright folks what I want you to do is spend the rest of the class creating a three rune array, using Wunjo in some manner. I don’t care what position the rune is set in as long as it is logical and could work. So go ahead and get started.

Harry thought about it for quite some time and began looking through his book and finally he put down Thurisaz, Eiwaz, and Wunjo. Professor Babbling was walking around asking each student questions about why they chose the runes they did and what the meaning they were trying to get across was, then assisting them in finding a better rune, if there was one, to achieve their goals. When she finally got to Harry she asked him what he was trying to achieve with his rune array.

“Well the Thurisaz is to represent the Darcorns and Riders, the Eiwaz it to represent transition or a major change and Wunjo is to come through it successfully and to complete our goals. Do you think this will work?”

“The rune work is sound and you chose them wisely, yes if you were doing a ritual rune array then these would work indeed. Very good work Mr. Black. “ She congratulated him she gave him a smile then moved on to the next person who happen to be Daphne Greengrass. About half the class had created rune arrays that would work while the other half still had work to do on theirs before they could find the right runes before theirs would work.

The bell rang and everyone headed out, but not before last minute instructions to have the three rune array finished before next class if you didn’t manage to get a ‘working’ array this class. Thankfully, Harry, Neville, Luna and Pavarti had all managed to come up with a working array. Unfortunately, none of the Slytherins had.

After dinner Harry arranged another trip to the Room of Lost Things in the Room of Requirements, he thought that Christian could use another wand and maybe find some daggers or a sword in there as well, or something like that. So everyone gathered up together and headed up there, to go to the room and they all headed there together.

Christian couldn’t believe the room when he saw it, all that stuff. He immediately found a couple of daggers he liked and a sword that would work quite well he thought. Then after much searching he found a wand that was perfect, Harry made a note to get a new wand holster for him as well for Yule. Christian kept looking around and even found a saddle and all the extras that came with it in a trunk off to one side, it looked brand spanking new. He took it and hoped that it would fit Ardera.

“You know we could take all these trunks, empty them and give them to the orphanage, say Eastern Wales for the boys there for Christmas.” Luna suggested.

“That’s a great idea, we would just have to go through all the trunks and say spend a day emptying the trunks shrinking them down and then getting them ready to take over there, I bet they would love to have a special place to put their things. And there certainly is enough trunks in here to do that with. Okay let’s do that this weekend.” Harry stated.

Harry thought they had to have dozens of trunks at Rider Hall, If he counted right they had sent over twenty-one trunks full of books alone so far. So they could empty those books out of the trunks they are in and that was a good start there, and there had to be a bunch of trunks sitting around the old place that wasn’t in use. Harry would have Jeeves contact the house elves at Rider Hall and have them do a search of the mansion looking for single compartment trunks in good working order, then have them clean then out and polish them up, along with the other ones and get them ready.

So they all made plans to come back and empty the place out of the dozens upon dozens of old trunks that were just sitting around gathering dust, that could be put to good use. Harry decided to write to Miss Faithright and ask her how many boys were at the Eastern Wales Orphanage right now, so they could get an accurate account for each boy. If they had to the could always purchase a few new trunks but honestly Harry didn’t think they would need to. There were so many in the old room as it was. Maybe that is something that Hermione could do, a project if you will, contact all the older families, the wealthy families and let them know the Riders are doing a trunk drive for the orphanages in the area, and are looking for any old, one compartment trunks they would like to donate. It would give her something to think about other than Christian and it would be her baby, as it were, she would be in charge of it and she would get all the credit for it. Yes, that sounds like a plan. He would talk to her about it tomorrow. If they get enough trunk donations, with what they already have in the room of requirements, maybe they can give the kids at Twin Oaks their very own trunk too. Harry tried not to get to ahead of himself there, so he stopped that line of thinking right there.

Maybe he could talk to the guy at the luggage shop and see if he had any cheap trade-ins that he had taken that he might be willing to sell to the Riders for the orphanage. You never know until you ask.

“What are you thinking so strongly about?” Neville asked as he came up to Harry.

And Harry told him his ideas, about setting Hermione up with contacting some of the ancient houses and letting them know that the Riders were doing a old, unused trunk drive for some local orphanages and they were looking for any old trunks people had that they might want to donate to a needy child. Harry was right in the middle of explaining it to Neville when Hermione stormed over and stopped right in front of them.

“If you are going to talk about me, you could at least have the human decency to do it when I am out of earshot.” She demanded. Her face was red with anger, her fists were balled up like she wanted to punch something.

“You know Neville, I think I changed my mind, instead of putting Hermione in charge of it, I think I will put Padma or Pavarti in charge of it. This is definitely not the kind of individual I want representing our Riders as a whole right now.” Harry said slowly and thoughtfully.

Neville nodded, not taking his eyes off Hermione, “Definitely not the image I would want to present.”

“What are you two talking about?” Hermione demanded.

“What we had been talking about Hermione was a trunk drive for the orphans. And placing you in charge of reaching out to the ancient houses for us to see if they had any old trunks they might want to donate to the Riders for us to give to the local orphanages. But the individual we see in front of us at this moment is not the individual we want representing the Riders in any fashion. So we have decided to see if Padma or Pavarti or both wish the task of contacting the ancient houses in the name of the Riders.” Harry said just as slowly as he held his temper back.

“What! I can do that job, I would do wonderful at it!” Hermione whined.

“Yes, you probably would have, that is why you were my first choice. But I will not have an aggressive, interfering, suspicious, individual come over here and act the way you just did to me or anyone else for that matter and reward that behavior in any manner. So the position goes to Padma and Pavarti. They will get all the accolades for raising the trunks and the praise for their efforts, and you can watch what you could have had if you had been polite and asked instead of demanded to know what we were talking about. You shouldn’t have been listening in on our conversation in the first place, it was a private conversation between Neville and myself, and you were not a part of that conversation at all. I don’t want to have to worry about you sneaking around behind me trying to listen in on my conversations with other people on the off chance that I might talk about you at some point. I won’t have it, if this is the kind of behavior and trust we can expect from you then you can just head back over to Ravenclaw and stay there in the dorm, because the Riders want no part of it.” With that Harry tapped Neville on the arm and the two of them headed out of the Room and back down to Sirius’ room. Leaving a startled Hermione in their wake.

Hermione didn’t know what to do, she wanted to cry really but she didn’t. She had known better than to listen in on their conversation, she didn’t know why she had done it. She didn’t know why she did a lot of the things she had done lately. Every since the incident with the suicide attempt she had gotten steadily more unstable in who she was, who it was that made her who she was. She thinks she is going to ask Madam Pomfrey about counseling. That is the only thing she can think of that might help. It was either that or leave, and she didn’t want to leave, for the first time she felt alive, like she belonged, but right now that couldn’t be further from the truth.

She felt suspicious and she knew in her heart she had no reason to be. She felt that Christian was going to take her place, but hadn’t she said not that long ago that she wasn’t happy in her slot. Yeah she would talk to Madam Pomfrey about counseling, she needed help, or else she would loose everything she had, all her friends, the Riders, all of it.

———————————————————

The rest of the week went pretty much how that first half had, in Care of Magical Creatures they studied Hippogriffs and it was fabulous. A magical creature with the head of a giant eagle and the hind quarters of a horse. Hippogriff’s are a class XXX magical creature, as designated by the Ministry of Magic. They are Native to Europe but Hippogriff breeding is a well established career in the Wizarding world and so they can be found throughout the world at almost any corner.

One thing all individuals must remember is that Hippogriffs are very proper and proud creatures and expect the proper amount of respect from anyone that wishes to approach them. So to approach a Hippogriff one must bow and wait for the Hippogriff to bow back, then and only then can you approach. If you do not receive a similar response, that is your signal to stay away. Eye contact must be maintained at all times, shifty eyes, or avoiding eye contact means they can’t trust you and they will let you know how they feel about that quite quickly. When a hippogriff is offended or threatened it may attack with those deadly talons or that fierce beak, each can quickly kill a human.

Hippogriffs eat anything from insects, birds and small mammals such as ferrets or minks. They build nest on the ground and lay only one single egg, which is quite delicate and guard it fiercely due to its delicate nature. It usually hatches within twenty four hours of being laid though, so it is not a long incubation period, infant hippogriffs are said to be able to fly within a week of hatching, although it may be months before they are capable of following their parents on any long flights.

Professor Lovegood had a mated pair of Hippogriffs for them to see, although no young one for them to look at, and they were both beautiful and majestic. It is said that many people have taken rides on Hippogriffs and there are even Hippogriff races in Italy in August if one is interested in visiting and watching it is quite the show, Hippogriff breeders from all across Europe bring their best stock by to show them off and even sale or trade a few at the convention that they have at the Hippogriff races. What was once a mild sporting event has now turned into a hugely profitable social event as well.

This weekend was the last weekend before Christmas holiday and so they had a Hogsmead weekend and the Riders all got dressed in their finest, Christian’s outfit had come in on Wednesday and had fit him perfectly, he looked like a million galleons in it and Padma even told him so, then blushed so hard her cheeks turned beet red, Pavarti couldn’t believe her sister had been so bold, she just started giggling at her sister. Who had her hand’s on her cheeks trying to cool them off some.

Harry had everyone dress in their full Rider uniforms and head down to the entrance at Hogwarts, they would pick something up to eat at the Three Broomsticks, hopefully without the excitement of last time. Since no one really got to explore the village last time, everyone was excited to get to go down and really have a look around.

They got in the carriages by Tier just like last time, and headed down to the Village, Hermione had decided to stay behind and talk to Madam Pomfrey today. So it was just the ten of them going down to the Village. Christian got more than his fair share of looks by the older students, not just females either, a few male students were giving him the once over as well.

Once they got to Hogsmead they all headed over to the Three Broomsticks and went in. They found a couple of tables and scooted them together and sat down, Madam Rosmerta herself came over and took their order and brought their drinks, and later their meals. When Harry asked why, she said that they are the Riders and they deserve only the best. Which Harry just smiled to and left it at that. They all talked about where they wanted to go, everyone pretty much wanted to go to Honeydukes. They needed to stock up on chocolate frogs, and every flavored beans, that last poker game was a rough one. They all wanted to go to Tomes and Scrolls, the book store, and to Zonko’s Joke Shop. Susan wanted to see what Dogweed and Deathcap carried in comparison to Slug and Jiggers Apothecary in Diagon Alley. Harry wanted to go to Dominic Maestro’s Music Shop and see about getting Christian a new guitar, which made Christian grin up a storm. Padma, Pavarti and Luna wanted to go to Gladrags Wizardwear to see what they had to sell. Susan and Harry also wanted to see what J. Pippin’s Potions had in stock, again comparing it to the Slug and Jiggers Apothecary in the Alley, and see if it was easier to get some of their supplies here rather them waiting until they had a chance to go to the Alley would be great. Neville needed to go the Scrivenshaft’s Quill shop, he was running low on ever ready quills, and needed more ink, but then again so did Harry. They both wanted to look into Stitches and Draughts to see what they had, although Harry didn’t think they would have very much, it was rather a small shop after all. They all wanted to the Magic Neep, a grocery store there in Hogsmead to see what all they carried and to see about restocking a few things. They knew it was no fancy place like they were use to, but maybe they carried some of the necessities. So they had a huge day ahead of them so they all ate quickly and decided to head out.

They started with Honeydukes since it was the closest, and unfortunately the most crowded. Rats. Once inside Harry thought Christian’s eyes were going to pop out of his skull. Harry went over to Christian and gave him a twenty galleon gold coin and told him to go to town on it, he did the same Fred and George who started to protest but one look on his face and they swallowed real hard and grabbed a basket and said ‘Yes Sir’ and went out into the mob of students to find what they wanted. Chocolate frogs included.

Next was across the street at Zonko’s Joke Shop, this was all on them as far as Harry was concerned, he got a couple of things here and there, nothing much really, a bunch of dung bombs and some Dizziness Powder, suppose to make the victim dizzy and disoriented for five minutes, hmm could be useful. Harry put that in his basket as well. Other than that he knew his twosome could make anything they had better and probably more colorful.

Then came Tomes and Scrolls, Harry found several books that looked really good, a few on potions, a few on history, a couple on first aid/healing, and several on defense. By the time he finished he probably had twenty books. Harry gave Christian a ten galleon gold piece and Fred and George one as well and said they had a library to furnish now get to it. They didn’t argue at all, they hit the stacks with a grin on their faces and went wandering through the isles looking for books.

Susan was waiting impatiently to go to Dogweed and Deathcap but she waited all the same, and while she waited she rummaged through the medical books and found a few that she felt would help her out in First Aid class and perhaps more. Then she looked into the fiction area and found some books that were romance novels that featured Riders and she just had to have them. She was laughing and giggling about those, but she got every single one they had of them anyway. So in the end she didn’t mind waiting, she managed to make it worth her wild to do so.

Next stop Dogweed and Deathcap. It was a lot smaller than the Diagon Alley Apothecary but it seemed to carry a wider variety of potions and ingredients. They even had the salve for saddle soars and the potion for rider’s cramp. Apparently when the shop owner learned that they had Riders at Hogwarts they started stocking up on things that they might want to keep in stock, including the nutrient potions, so Susan bought eleven cases, leaving only one case on the shelf. The owner just smiled and nodded and started shrinking all the purchases down and putting them in a special pouch that she gave them free of charge. That would keep everything in it in stasis for up to six months. Adding that much longer to any potions they might put in the bag, before they stocked their shelves with it. So Susan got a wide range of useful potions. She thought as she picked up a couple more bottles and placed them on the counter with the rest of the bottles to be counted out and paid for.

The lady behind the counter was thrilled to see her stock of potions almost bare now, who would think she would be so happy to be almost sold out of everything, but apparently she just loved the Riders to pieces now. She gave them a thirty percent discount due to the quantity of potions they were buying and just smiled and kept adding things up for them. Susan put all the potions in her bag until she could sort through them and hand them out to everyone accordingly.

Then they went to Dominic Maestro’s Music Shop, Harry wanted to see about getting Christian a new guitar. It was a small, but nice little shop with both new and used instruments and music both. Harry told Christian to look through the guitars they had available and find him one he liked, while he looked through the sheet music for some new songs the band could work on. So that is what he did, then he noticed the price tags and he went over to Harry and told him he couldn’t do it.

“Why not?” Harry asked,

“The one I like, is like the cost of one of those trunks. And you have already done so much for me, I just can’t take that much money from you.” Christian said firmly.

“Okay, first… all the money used on the Riders comes from the sale of a Basilisk that my brother and I killed a couple of years ago, and they are still selling that shit off so it isn’t a burden to anyone, it isn’t any one person’s money it is the Rider’s money. It is meant to be used by the Riders for the Riders. It is not my personal money you are using and believe me when I say that you have a long, long way to go before you put even a dent in the money we have in that account, Hell we have barely touched the interest we get off that account. And they still have thirty percent of that Damn thing to sell off yet. As long as you are not talking in the thousands of gold then get it.” Harry clarified.

Christian might understand what Harry was talking about but he still didn’t like it. But he went ahead and got the Gibson anyway. It was a beauty, far nicer than the old one that he had gotten from the Good Will store for forty pounds that he had worked hard and save up for. He had gotten a job at a fast food place for a while and slept in a make shift tent so he had no real bills to speak of. They let him eat there for a discount rate and so he kept it to one meal a day and what he could catch for he and Ardera, usually rabbit and squirrel, but hey… it was something. So with an armload of music and one guitar, complete with strap, carrying case and five picks Harry headed up to the counter. When he explained that they were the Riders and that they had a band, and that they had a new Rider that played guitar but didn’t have one, the store owner immediately took forty percent off the total of everything and told them that anytime they came in the store to just show them their ring and they would get the same discount. Harry was thrilled, although he felt a little bad about it as well, but not bad enough not to take the discount and smile his best smile at the man with his thanks.

Turns out the man was one of the guys that they had rescued during the attack on Hogsmead. He had gotten trapped under some rubble during the attack and Cedric, Fred and George dug him out and carried him over to the Three Broomsticks for medical help, he would have lost his leg if it hadn’t have been for Susan and Padma’s excellent care and getting him to Madam Pomfrey so quickly too. So the man was thrilled to be able to help out the Riders any way that he could.

Christian listened to what the man was saying in awe, the more he was around his team the more he looked up to them, and wanted to be just like them. People treated them with respect and honor, as if being in their presence was an honor in itself. It was so bizarre for Christian, when half his life he was considered a burden and a heartache to people, and now he was this person to be revered. It was something he never expected he would ever feel during his lifetime yet here it was directed at him and his companions.

Gladrags Wizarding wear was the next place on the list. Harry didn’t really want to go in there, especially with a bunch of giggling girls or women or whatever they decided they were at that moment. But he followed dutifully and didn’t complain. Both he and Neville hung back near the exit, or as close to the exit as they could get without actually being outside.

When Luna noticed the boys were so far away, she went over and asked them why they were so far away.

“You are not catching me in any of those ‘girl’ questions. Not happening.” Harry said firmly.

“Yeah, not gonna happen.” Neville inched a little closer to the door.

“‘Girl’ questions?” She asked.

“You know like ‘What does this blouse do for my complexion?’” Harry said in a high pitched voice.

“ Or ‘Does this dress make my butt look to big?’ Oh no not happening.’ Neville said in the same high pitched girly voice then switched back to his normal voice.

“Neville could you come here for a moment?” Came Pavarti’s voice back by the dressing rooms.

“Run!” Harry shouted and Neville took off through the doors “I’m right behind you.” Harry raced right behind his brother out the doors to the shop.

“COWARDS!” Luna shouted after them and stormed back over to where the rest of the girls were trying on clothes and told them what the boys had done. They all laughed about it but decided to get the boys later if they could.

Harry and Neville stood outside the shop for a while then Harry noticed a little shop over to the side and went to look in the window, it was a jewelry shop. So they went in. Harry and Neville looked around for a while, Harry found some adorable flower hair barrettes that he thought that Luna would just love. And Neville found some that had long strings of stars and pearls that flowed down from them that he thought that Pavarti would enjoy so they got their new finds and headed back outside to find the girls standing there looking around to see where they were. When they showed them what they had gotten them they forgave them for their behavior in Gladrags and even gave them a peck on the cheek, each girl love the hair barrettes, in fact all the girls wanted to go into the jewelry store and see what else they had.

So they did, after about ten minutes and a huge amount of giggling and laughter later they managed to make it out of the store with all the girls finding some new hair decorations and a new jewelry store to enjoy.

It was getting late so everyone decided to go over to The Three Broomsticks and grab a butterbeer and then head back to Hogwarts. So they headed back over to the restaurant and sat down and ordered. Again Madam Rosmerta was the only one that served them and Harry had to smile at that and tease her a little bit. She swatted him on the arm and blushed but laughed then headed back over to the bar to get their drinks.

“I think I want to eat here instead of back up at Hogwarts, I have been craving fish and chips so bad lately and we haven’t had any in a long time up there. So I want an order of fish and chips.” Luna stated.

“Oh that sounds so good, me too.” Pavarti agreed.

“Me three.” Padma stated smiling real big.

“Looks like we are going to need menus after all Ma’am,” Harry told Rosmerta when she came back to the table with their butter beers. She just nodded and went and got them their menus and handed them out. Almost everyone went for the fish and chips now that Luna had mentioned it, it did sound pretty good. A couple of people went for the shepherd’s pie and Harry got the beef pot pie and some chips on the side.

Everyone enjoyed their meal and then they got up and left, leaving a hefty tip behind for the excellent service.

The carriages were already taking kids back up to Hogwarts so the Riders just grabbed some carriages as normal, one Tier per carriage, and headed up to Hogwarts as well.

The next couple of hours was spent going through purchases and putting them up; counting up, marking down and handing out potions; and sorting through everything and making sure it got to the right person, which took a while.

After it was all done Christian wanted to try out his new guitar and so everyone got together and brought out their instruments. James and Matthew, who Jeeves was watching, were real excited, they wanted to hear the music and watch everyone play their instruments. As soon as the music started up the twins began dancing to the music in the middle of the room. It was so funny, it was hard to focus on what you were playing if you kept watching them, but they were adorable.

They found that their music sounded better than it ever had before, they didn’t know if it was the guitar or Christian himself, but something was making the music sound sweet and more soulful and full of pure heart that just couldn’t be denied. Then they got in on a couple of country songs and Harry, Christian and Cedric began to sing together and it was like they were some musical group that had sung together for years, the harmony was beautiful. It was undeniable the most amazing experience that most of them had ever had. Then the girls tried it on some songs by Queen and Abba. They were great! The guys joined in at just the right moments as back up and the harmony was like they has it all choreographed and all. Then they tried Lean On Me, they liked the way Micheal Bolton did it best so they tried to mimic him somewhat. It was amazing! That was when Alice and Frank, Sirius and Remus, Xenophilius and Persephone all walked into the room to see how they were doing, of course they had Lillian, Sebastian and Astraea with them and they all ran over to Matthew and James and began to dance as well. Christian took the lead on Lean On Me and man did he have a voice, low and smooth, what a ladies man he must be, they all thought. He could hit the high notes with ease but his voice stayed in that low soprano most of the time, just gorgeous.

The adults all stayed to the side out of sight and just listened to the beautiful music, not budging an inch, even though the little ones joined right in. After they finished the song there was applause all around, from those playing the music, those singing and those those listening to the songs. Hell, the little ones were even applauding right along with everyone else.

“We just come to see if you all were ready to head down to dinner and we get a show with dinner, how wonderful.” Alice stated. “But really it is getting late dinner started about ten minutes ago so hurry up and wash up, dinner is waiting everyone.”

Since they had all changed out of their Rider uniforms and into something casual when they got back to the rooms all they had to do was wash their hands and then they followed the adults down the hallway. Christian taking the left flank of Tier three while Hermione took the right flank, somehow it just fit. Christian didn’t know why but it seemed to work that way, so that is the way he left things. And he stepped in time with all the others, down to the dinning hall.

The adults all herded the little ones into the bathroom to get cleaned up and then took a hand each and headed down to dinner as well.

They all headed back up to the rooms after dinner and began to finish last minute assignments, and then to start studying for the test they would have to begin the following day. The Riders were sure they were well ahead in all their subjects so they weren’t worried about it really, they just wanted to make sure they had some of the harder to remember stuff down, like the names and dates in History of Magic and to be prepared in Potions. The only one that was unsure of how he would do was Christian, and that was because this was all new to him, so Cedric went through the basic syllabus of most of the subjects and started drilling Christian just to see how he was doing. He was surprised at how well Christian was doing really, on most of the subjects he was doing in the EE to O range easily. The one subject he needed to work on the most was Arithmancy, so that is the one that they focused on. They stayed up till almost midnight working on their studies, even after the others had all gone to bed, finally shortly after midnight Sirius came out and suggested the boys call it a night. So they did. Both were getting tired anyway. It had been a long day anyway. So they headed into Harry’s room and set up their trunks and went to bed.

——————————————————————

Breakfast came early for everyone but they were all excited to get their test schedules for their end of term tests. Since it was only a mid-term and not a final they still had time to fix any issues they had with their grades at this point. Most classes were set up with forty percent for mid-terms, forty percent for finals and twenty percent for homework and class participation. So you had to put in quite a bit of effort and work into the midterm even if it wasn't the finals, it could make a big difference in your overall grade. Only a few classes were different and quite honestly Harry couldn’t remember which ones they were right now.

Alice came by and handed out all their test schedules and Harry looked at their’s it was a full week to be sure,

Monday from 8:00a to 9:45a Transfiguration
Monday from 10:15a to 12:00p Charms
Tuesday from 8:00a to 9:45a History of Magic
Tuesday from 10:15a to 12:00p Potions
Wednesday from 8:00a to 9:45a Care of Magical Creatures
Wednesday from 10:15a to 12:00p Herbology
Thursday from 8:00a to 9:45a Defense Against the Dark Arts
Thursday from 10:15a to 12:00p Astrology part 1
Thursday from 10:00p to 12:00a Astrology part 2
Friday from 8:00a to 9:45a Arithmancy
Friday from 10:15a to 12:00p Ancient Runes
Saturday from 8:00a to 9:45a First Aid

“Well it is an early morning all week but that is nothing new. And we have Astrology practicals on Thursday night followed by Arithmancy at eight the following morning, that is going to be a little rough but we can do it. Every test is over with by noon except that Astrology Practical. So we have all day to study for the next round of tests. I just wonder how we are going to be able to get from one test to the other with them being practically back to back like that.”

Luna looked at the listing then stated, “Look at how they are paired, each one is practically across the hallway from the next one, or just down the hallway. The only one that isn’t is the Care of Magical Creatures and Herbology and both of them are our only classes that are taught outside.” She stated.

Neville nodded. He had to admit the schedule was real well done actually. Everything was early in the morning, when the brain is the most active, according to first aid class at least. And it was all over by noon, well except on Thursday and that really couldn’t be helped…had to have the practical for Astrology at night, some night. But you had all other classes done and over with by noon each and every other day. So that gave you all that day to study for the next day’s classes. If you wanted to really pour your heart and soul into it you could pull a twelve hour shift and still be in bed by midnight and get plenty of rest. Of course that doesn’t figure in something little, like eating or anything. Neville snickered. Yeah this was a fabulous schedule as far as he was concerned.

“Looks like we have Transfigurations first guys so let’s head on down there and see if we can guess which one it will be on the practical.” Harry stated.

They all said good by to the others and headed out to their first final, debating on what it would be in the practical would be in Transfigurations.

“I bet you anything it is going to be the Pebble into a Plushie, it was difficult enough to be on the final and everyone had a blast doing it.” Neville stated.

Pavarti agreed, and so did Luna.

“Yeah, I bet that Sirius would do that one for several levels too. So no bet, I say it will be Calculus-Villosum-Ludibrum as well.” Harry agreed.

Sure enough the test was a simple twenty five match the Transfiguration to the effect, three essay questions and three extra credit questions. And the practical was indeed the Pebble to a Plushie or more properly known as Calculus-Villosum-Ludibrum. And each one got to keep their plushie after Professor Black made did a permanent spell on it.

Next was the Charms test, and it was pretty easy too, it was twenty true and false, and twenty fill in the blank questions then three essay and three extra credit questions. Their practical was Banishing Charm, another easy one for the gang to manage.

They all hung around the class after wards and handed in a series of book reports they had done as possible extra credit, they hoped, for the class. They knew that Professor Flitwick normally didn’t hand out extra credit but they had found those ancient charms books in the Come and Go room and they had decided to each do a report on one of the different books and see if he would take them as extra credit, especially if they allowed him access to the original of books…he he he. Bribery is always a possibility. To say the little Professor was impressed was an understatement, he was totally fascinated with their work and couldn’t wait to read it and their sources either… just to make sure they understood what the author was trying to impress on the reader of course.

All four of them left with smiles on their faces, sure they would get the ten points each extra credit that he said he might give them if he found their work satisfactory. It may not be much but it could make the difference between an O and and O+ so that is all that mattered to them.

Then they all headed down to lunch. Christian had had his first Charms then Defense Against the Dark Arts. And instead of a worried or glum face he was all smiles and laughing with Cedric. He had really enjoyed the challenge of both tests and thought he had done pretty good on each. He had even tried for the extra credit questions on each test. And he was sure he got them right on the Defense Against the Dark Arts. And pretty sure he was right on the Charms class too. He said for the final on Charms it was a Nonverbal cleaning spell was all, and for Defense Against the Dark Arts it was a Nonverbal Shield Charm both of which he could do, and the extra credit in the class was Expecto Patronum and he could do a corporeal patronus so he was positive he got those points as well.

Cedric just nodded along, he had finally been able to perform a corporeal patronus as well and got the extra credit points for it too. He was so proud of himself, his darcorn was looking more and more like Justice every time he created it. Growing just as Justice did, getting bigger and more filled out. Professor Longbottom was proud of both of them and told them so. Cedric thought that Charms final was a little too easy, to tell you the truth, I mean a Nonverbal cleaning charm, get real, a cleaning charm…that is a third year spell. Okay it was done Nonverbal but still.

They were all debating on what they would have for Defense Against the Dark Arts as far as Harry’s class went, it wasn’t until Thursday but still. Harry bet it was going to be Stupefy, Neville bet on Diffindo, Pavarti stated she thought it would be Expelliarmus Maximus, and then Luna smiled and said she thought it would be Petrificus Totalus, and everyone just kinda hung their heads and nodded, okay one less thing to worry about, it is going to be Petrificus Totalus.

Harry was more concerned with History of Magic that was going to be the next day anyway. That had had a lot of people and dates to remember. He knew how Professor Lupin liked to do his tests, with matching dates and events for part of it and then the other part he liked to do essay questions. He liked to know what a student thought about an event or how it compared to another event, he wanted to know your opinion and it was all basic supposition. Harry always did good on those questions. He really liked those kind of questions and tests, where he could really delve into his imagination and just let himself go with the flow of words and thoughts coming to the surface.

After lunch everyone who didn’t have another test to do headed back to Sirius’ room to study. Soon they were all either elbow deep in books or in their trunk working on Potions, which test was also the next day. They were so wrapped up in what they were doing they didn’t even realize it was time for dinner until Jeeves popped in and reminded them, so they all got cleaned up and headed down to the Dining Hall to dinner and to meet up with everyone again.

Fred and George had just finished their Transfiguration test, and you guessed it, the Pebble to Plushie transfiguration for the practical for them as well. But they didn’t care, they made an adorable pair or clowns, Fred’s was purple with bright orange hair, and orange patches on his purple costume. George’s was neon green with banana yellow hair and bright red patches on its costume. They both had the same big huge smiles and bright blue eyes, with big pink cheeks and brightly colored shoes that had seen their better days.

Nobody had ever thought of making anything other than plushie animals before, the site of the twins’ clowns brought a whole new level of plushies that could be made with this spell. As long as it was a soft doll it should work, Harry was going to try it, after finals that is.

Everyone headed back to the rooms to study until late in the night but then finally went to bed as it neared midnight. All because of those stupid names and dates, knowing what someone did wasn’t the problem, but knowing when they did it or when they were born, were elected to office and died was the problem. All those dates began to run in to each other and got confusing, unfortunately.

The next morning they went down to breakfast talking about what they though the essay questions would be in History of Magic, it seemed like no one could agree and this time Luna wasn’t giving any clues.

When they finally got into the class Harry was actually kinda relieved, there was indeed twenty five mix and match dates and events, and three essay questions. The essay questions were based on Jack Vance and his ‘form follows function’ theory and the idea of magical intent. Adalbert Waffling’s Laws of Magic. And a comparison/contrast between the two. Then he had three extra credit questions on abstract individuals that they spoke about very minutely during the year. Just to see if you had gone ahead and done the research to see if you could find out any more about the individuals on your own. And thankfully, Harry had looked up all three individuals that he had wanted information on. Two were former female Ministers for Magic and the final one was Isobel Gowdie who invented the Animagus spell. So as far as Harry could tell he did real good on this year’s History of Magic as well.

Potions was up next and the written test was difficult, matching lists of ingredients to the proper name of the potion, fill in the blank and true and false questions made up the vast majority of the test. The final three questions were essay style and thankfully they were about the history of the Confusing Concoction, the History of the Wide Eye Potion, and the dangers of making an Anti-Nausea Potion. The practical was the Antidote to Uncommon Poisons Potion. In other wards it was a breeze for him.

The next morning the first test was in Care of Magical Creatures and that test was an easy one for them all, it had twenty matching questions, twenty fill in the blanks and three extra credit questions. Then their practical was, believe it or not Hippogriffs, so it was an easy one as well. Harry was sure he aced that test as well. After the class he, Neville, Luna and Pavarti handed in their books they had been preparing all semester on the animals they had seen. They even had Luna do photoshoots of the animals again, just like last year, and they came out amazing. Fit for a MagiZoology magazine spread each and every one of them. To say that Professor Lovegood was impressed would be an understatement, just the look on his face suggested they would get full marks for their extra credit work.

Then came Herbology, it was twenty fill in the blank and twenty true and false questions then three essay questions and one extra credit question. For the most part it was a breeze there were a couple of questions you really had to read closely to make sure you caught the wording just right or else you would have gotten the question wrong, but other than those tricky ones, the test was easy. The essay question was on Gillyweed so it was an easy one for them. And the extra credit question was on Aconite, again an easy one if you just read your book and did a little extra studying on the herbs on your own time. The first basic thing Harry pointed out was that Aconite was also known as Monkshood or Wolfsbane depending on what part of the plant you were talking about. Or if you were talking about the plant in its entirety. Then Harry pointed out that each part of the plant could be used in a different potions in different manners. He also stressed the fact that Wolfsbane was one of the primary ingredients in the Wolfsbane Potion and the Wideye Potion. He also mentioned that it was highly poisonous and had to be handled with care at all times and measured exactly when used in potions. Harry thought with all he had written on the subject, he had gotten full credit on the extra credit question. Then he and the others handed in the templets they had been working on and to say that Professor Sprout was thrilled was like saying that Hungarian Blacks were only big lizards, she loved them. So the extra credit points possible for them was a real possibility too.

Thursday morning started off with Defense Against the Dark Arts and it was great, twenty five matching questions and twenty five true and false questions. Three essay questions and three extra credit questions too. The essay questions were about Diffindo, Confrigo, and Stupefy. And the extra credit questions were about the three unforgivables the Imperius, the Cruciatus Curse and the Avarda Kadarva Curse. Then the practical was the Expecto Patronum and believe it or not both Harry and Neville were able to create corporeal patronuses for the first time.

Astrology was to list all the stars in Aries and Taurus which was an easy one for them. Then twenty true and false questions on the star charts they had been working on so far that year.

That night they had to find Gemini and identify all the stars in the constellation and map them accordingly.

The next day they were dragging around a little, but they made it to the Arithmancy test without a problem. And it was a breeze as far as Harry was concerned. It focused on the Agrippan/Pythagorean Method and asked you to analysis three names and see what the results would be for the three names of famous Wizards. Specifically Merlin, Cornelias Oswald Fudge, and Paracelsus, the results were interesting Harry thought. Then there were twenty five matching and twenty five fill in the blank questions. The extra credit question was to take the Chaldean Method and use it to find your series of numbers, your Destiny number, your Soul Urge number, your Hidden Passion number, and your Habit Challenge number. Thankfully, there were three possible matrixes that were displayed as being the right one and you had to pick the true Chaldean Chart, and didn’t have to remember it all directly from memory, you just had to remember the basis of the chart itself and go from there.

Ancient Runes was another challenging one, it was twenty five matching questions and twenty five true and false questions. Then three essay questions on rune arrays and what they might be for or their meaning. Then the extra credit question was to create a three rune array one that might help with the attainment of knowledge and understanding. Then after class they all hung around and waited to hand in a special project they had been working on, a series of reports on the analysis of each Rune they had studied with diagram of standard and reversed positions and at least twenty four inches of information on each one. At the end of each analysis they used the Rune in a three Rune array to show how the rune could be used and what position it would play, primary, focus or supporting.

Saturday they had their First Aid class test first thing and it was rather difficult, of all the test Harry would have to say that First Air was the hardest. First there was a diagram of the hand where you had to fill in the names of the different bones, then there were twenty five true and false questions and twenty five fill in the blank questions. The extra credit question was to list all the vital organs in the human body and what their purpose was. And it was over with. The last test of the semester. Thank Merlin…was all Harry could think about as he left the Medi-Ward and headed outside to the Black Lake. He was tired, emotionally and mentally tired. He was taking a skip on Karate class today, they all were. They had flooed Master Li and let him know that they wouldn’t be there and he had understood, finals and all that is. And gave them a break this one time.

“Thank Merlin that is done.” Harry stated as they all began to sit down around the shores of the Black Lake.

“Yeah, save the worst for last, why don’t they. That First Aid test was a real brain teaser. Some of those questions made my head hurt.” Neville stated.

“That is just because it isn’t your area of study, in all reality it was a pretty easy test with pretty basic information in it.” Susan stated. “Even the extra credit question was simple really if you just listened in class.”

“Says the person who eats medical books for breakfast, lunch and dinner.” Harry teased.

“That is not nice.” Luna swatted him on the arm and frowned at him.

“Sorry Susan, I didn’t mean to tease. I shouldn’t have said that.” Harry apologized.

“Well it is kinda true, I am normally reading medical books, can’t help it, I just find them fascinating.” Susan said.

“I don’t think I did very good on that one at all. I think I messed up on the bones of the hand completely.” Hermione stated.

“Come off it Hermione, you did perfect, like you always do, you are brilliant and you always do your best so you got a perfect score.” Harry stated.

“I do not get a perfect score, if I did… then I would be getting first slot and not seventh slot. I just don’t know what I am doing wrong, I am getting all the questions right I am just not getting a high enough score on the written parts.” Hermione stated her bottom lip coming out showing that she was getting upset.

“It’s simple really Hermione. When you answer the question you recite all the information that could possibly be associated with the question that was asked. But do you give a supposition of your own? Do you use your own imagination to come up with a supposition that will make the person grading the test stop and think, or go back and check your references to see if your supposition could possibly be accurate. Did you make them think? That is what gets us the high marks on the written parts.” Harry stated, he never knew that she didn’t know why she did so poorly on her tests compared to them, he thought she knew. Well, might as well tell her now.

“We use our imagination, write a supposition based on what information we have gathered, and come up with an original idea, something that no one has ever put down on paper before. Sometimes it is something based entirely on the facts and something that so mentally challenging that they have to go look up the facts to see if I am right or if they can prove me wrong. Other times it is a wild and imaginative statement that is way out of nowhere that just came to me and I have no idea what made me think of the idea but it sounded good at the time. Those are rare but they do happen on occasion and when they do, they make you stop and think and always make you want to do more research to see if what I am saying is a possibility or not. The fact is, I made the people grading the papers think.” Harry continued.

Harry took another breath, “When you recite facts and nothing more, they will just grade you on how your use of the facts are, or how many facts you remember, or your grammar, or even the spelling and style of writing. But they can’t grade you on your imagination or the inventive use of the facts you found since you didn’t show that. So your missing a whole chunk of the grade right off the bat. Then if it is something really interesting and makes them think or elicits an emotion then you have just won the best test score award. All it takes is a little imagination and some concentration and you can do it,”

“I can’t do that. How can I be expected to come up with some wild and insane supposition on the spot, that takes days of research and, and….” Hermione looked as if she was going to cry.

“You can do it, it just takes time to train yourself on how to do it. It didn’t come overnight for us either, we had to learn how to do it. We had to learn what the Professors were looking for and what made them stop and pay attention. Now we strive to do that with every test we take. We want the Professors to look at us and remember us because they remember our test. We want to be the one out of hundreds of tests that make them stop and say “What? Wait a minute, what did they mean by that?” Start by asking a probing question of the reader or something. Make them think, make them want to go do research of their own. Like in this last one, the extra credit question was about the vital organs right? Well remember the comment of Situs Inversus Totalus and how it effected a Wizard by the name of Donny Osmond, well I did some research and found a couple more cases, one is a Non-Magical singer by the name of Enrique Iglesias and the other is a Wizard that is the director of the Ashtanga Yoga Center in Carlsbad, California, America, by the name of Tim Miller. I also found a recent statistic stating that while still rare, this affliction may occur in as much point zero one percent of the population. That is a lot of people when you put it down to numbers. Think about it, one out of every ten-thousand persons has this affliction. It didn’t sound like much until I put the numbers into those words. The thing is, I put the fact about Donny Osmond having Situs Inversus Totalus into my basic supposition, then I added that there were other famous individuals inflicted and named Enrique Iglesias and Tim Miller and gave a short history of who they were as well as who Donny Osmond was, I also looked up the fact that they didn’t find out that Donny Osmond had the affliction until his appendix almost burst on him due to the fact that they were looking on the wrong side of his body for what was wrong with him. He almost died over a simple appendicitis attack; all due to Situs Inversus Totalus. Now I have made something rather dull and fact riddled, interesting and made the reader want to go and see if my facts are accurate or at least go look them up.” Harry tried to explain but he could see most of it was still going over Hermione’s head. He tried to think of another way to explain it but nothing was coming to his mind.

Harry looked to the others but they just shook their heads, not knowing what else to say either. Even Luna who normally would be able to come up with something wild and outrageous, just shook her head in wonder at the whole thing.

“I honestly don’t know what else to tell you if that doesn’t help…” And before he got out the rest of the sentence Hermione cut Harry off.

“Well it doesn’t help. I have no idea how to make something out of nothing. I deal with facts and quotes and direct comments, those people can understand. They can’t be expected to understand some wild theory or idea you conjure up in your head and spit out on paper at the spur of the moment. They need to base their grades on the reality of facts, not the fantasy of possibility or some random fantastic thought or wild supposition you have made up out of no where. How dare they grade me less than you when my answer is clearly the best. I am going to go talk to the school board about this. If this is what they are really doing then I am going to protest their actions to the highest level possible. I work hard to do as much research as possible on the subjects we are assigned and when I put all that information down, I should be getting the better grade. Not you. No, this will not do. Creative supposition indeed. How dare they.

Harry threw his hands up in the air and said “I give up, I tried, everyone here knows I tried. I gave examples, I explained, I have nothing to feel sorry about because I did my part. Now when you get a lower grade than me it will not be my fault because I tried.”

“If I get a lower grade than you this time, I am going directly to the school board and demand that they regrade the test appropriately, not based on wild suppositions or insane innuendoes, how dare they. If even one of my grades is less than yours I am going directly to the school board and demand a retesting. I will not stand for this again. If I have to demand that they remove those essay questions or extra credit questions from the tests then so be it.” Hermione raised her chin in the air, in triumph.

“So you would make a whole school change the way they present tests simply because you are insecure in the way you answer the questions? Really? You are just too much. I’ve explained how to get the better grade, and if you choose to be a brat and pout and throw a fit and demand they alter their way of grading or testing to fit your method of taking a test, it just goes to prove that you are narrow minded and insecure. Oh and I don’t think the School Board or the Board of Education will change the way it grades tests or how it presents tests just to fit one narrow minded, insecure, student. They have been doing this a long time to let a student bully them about. So I don’t think you will get very far Hermione. But you’re welcome to try, you made a fool out of yourself last year why not try to make a bigger fool out of yourself this year. It is just starting earlier this year than last.” Harry got up and headed towards the stables, too frustrated to just sit there and relax any longer, he needed something to take his mind off of things, and talking to Storm usually did that.

——————————————————————

Storm listened to Harry tell him about Hermione and her temper tantrum about grades again. And about how she couldn’t learn the new and better way to write her answers even if it meant she would get more points on the tests. Harry continued to vent for a while and then they stood there in silence. Finally, all out of breath and a lot calmer Harry picked up the brush and began to brush Storm down. Storm nodded at that and stood still as his person gently brushed him down to a beautiful shine.

“Did I ever tell you about the first Rider to have a group?” Storm asked.

Harry paused in what he did, “No, I don’t think so.”

“His name was Darius, Darius Singleton. It was early in the sixteen hundreds, sixteen-elven I believe. He was from London, a seventeen year old orphan who had stolen two loaves of bread from the local market and was on the run from the local guard, when he got shot in the leg with an arrow. Somehow he managed to make it to the forrest surrounding London. He collapsed near a small stream and managed to crawl his way to the edge of a stream and get himself something to drink.” Storm started.

“He laid there resting by the stream for what he thought was a short nap, it turned out that he had gone into shock, from the pain and high fever, and it had been nearly three days before he opened his eyes again. This time he was laying there with a beautiful Darcorn stallion watching over him. He was so disoriented from his delirium that he assumed the Darcorn was a hallucination, and he began to talk to it. Just like any sane and lucid person would do to a hallucination, right? After a few minutes he heard a voice in his head that was answering him back. At first he didn’t think anything about it, after all if it is your hallucination why can’t they speak to you, then he realized that the hallucination was a little more real than a hallucination and he practically jumped out of his skin. He had never seen a black unicorn before, it took him a few minutes to realize that the voice in his head was still talking to him, trying to help him calm down. And a few more to realize that the beautiful beast wasn’t there to hurt him, but was trying to protect him.”

“Well Pulcher,” he called the gorgeous beast, it meant ‘handsome’ in Latin, “We have to figure out how to get this bloody arrow out of my leg before anything else.” The leg had gotten red and swollen with infection and looked horrible, in fact if he was in the city they probably would have taken the leg, and left him with a stump.

The voice in his head stated “You have to push the arrow through your leg so that the point is sticking out and can be broken off then once the point is broken off you can pull the shaft back out of your leg without a problem.”

“Okay but that is going to hurt, and the leg is already hurting a little more than I can handle right now. Pushing it through is going to be more than I can tolerate.” Darius said. He could see the logic in what the Darcorn was stating but the mere though of doing so brought fresh waves of pain through his leg, even without him touching it.

Pulcher placed his horn on Darius’ leg and a gold glimmer surrounded the leg and the ripped cloth that used to be his pants, before Darius realized it, all the pain in his leg was gone. Hesitantly he reached down ripped his pants so he would have clear site of the arrow. Then grabbed the shaft that was sticking out of the back of his leg and pushed, with quite a bit of effort he managed to push it through the front of his leg and the arrow portion out of his leg. Darius was sweating and trembling with the effort now and his sight was getting a little blurry but he was still holding on.

“How am I suppose to break the arrow portion off, I don’t have a knife or any tools here with me?” Darius asked breathing hard.

Pulcher bent down and carefully bit the end of the arrow off and dropped it next to the man, and then grabbed the shaft end of the arrow that was still sticking out of Darius’ leg and pulled. Swiftly pulling it free of Darius’ leg in one swift movement then spit out that portion of the arrow. Then he laid his horn back on the leg and the golden magic once again twirled and glittered around and around the leg as it sealed the wound and healed the leg, removing all pain and infection from the leg.

Darius went from breathing hard and on the verge of screaming to sighing and petting the great beast in thanks. It was done. The mighty beast had done it. The arrow was out of his leg and it was healed, almost as if the arrow had never been there. Tentatively Darius moved his leg, trying it out to see if there was any pain, but there was none. So still trembling some he got up and stood on the injured leg but felt no difference in either leg. “You’ve done it my friend. Bloody hell, you’ve done it.” He said.

Darius fixed up a trap and snared a rabbit for the two of them to share. After Pulcher explained that he preferred meat to the apples that were on the tree that Darius had found that is. Darius used a sharp rock to split the Rabbit in two and skinned it. Then he gave half of the rabbit to Pulcher and fixed up a fire and cooked the other half for himself. After sharing a meal together both felt like they would be friends for life, and be in each others life for a long, long time to come.

With some urging, and Pulcher kneeling down, Darius climbed onto Pulcher’s back and the Darcorn took off at a nice slow trot to somewhere that Darius had no clue where. They went for almost a day when they came to a barrier of some kind, at first Darius couldn’t figure it out, it felt strange and itchy but Pulcher just went on through it. On the other side of it Darius saw it, out of nowhere, a beautiful castle. With a wide open grounds and huge gates, as they got closer Darius asked Pulcher if he knew who lived here and he said that he does, all the sudden Darius was saddened at the thought that his great friend could belong to someone, he hadn’t even considered that fact before. He realized that he should have, considering how magnificent Pulcher was. He was healthy and strong, not thin or emaciated like a Darcorn from the wild might be. This made Darius sad and incredibly lonely all of the sudden, even if he didn’t understand why exactly.

Pulcher walked up to the center of the grand courtyard in front of the castle and knelt down for Darius to get off. Which he did of course. Darius dreaded the answer but he asked the question anyway, “Who’s place is this?”

“Ours, the Darcorns and their Riders. We have lived here since eleven-twenty-seven, when the final stone to this great castle was put in place. It was designed for the Darcorns and the Riders and was built according to their specifications. It was designed to house up to thirty Riders and their mounts at any given time, although it does have extensive guest quarters as well.”

“Why have I never heard about Darcorns or Riders or anything about any of this before?” Darius asked.

“They are a very secretive group, Wizards hunt Darcorns for their horns to use them in potions so we must stay hidden most of the time. It is only when we have a Rider that we even feel safe enough to go out of these gates. Or when we feel our Rider near us, like I did with you. I could feel you near, and in great pain, I had to help, so I left the protection of the gates and sought you out.” Pulcher stated.

“Where are all the rest of the Riders?” Darius asked looking around at the grand gardens in front of him but seeing no one around.

“Gone, long gone. You are the first Rider to be found in almost two hundred years.” Pulcher stated sadly.

“WHAT!” Darius practically shouted. “That can’t be right, look at this place, it is magnificent, not a blade of grass out of place, perfect in every way.”

“House elves take care of the castle, the grounds, and the Darcorns that are here. It gives them something to do. Although they would much rather have the castle full of people to tend to as well.

So Darius decided that he would go inside and have a look around and see what all there was or wasn’t in there. When he got inside he was shocked. It was beautiful, marble floors and gorgeous mahogany walls. Everything was polished within an inch of its life and sparkling clean. There were fresh flowers and greenery decorating every nook and cranny making the old castle seem as if it were just bursting with life. He walked through the entry way into the what he assumed was a receiving room and then turned to his left and walked for a ways and found a gentleman’s study complete with a master desk made out of the same mahogany that the walls were made out of. It had several over stuffed chairs sitting about and one large chair sitting behind the desk. Behind the desk was a huge book shelf filled with books and scrolls, that just about set his mouth watering. Just because he was an orphan doesn’t mean he was ignorant, quite to the contrary really. He used to spend every waking moment he could in various libraries just to stay off of the streets.

Darius continued down the corridor and found the library, now talk about mouth watering. It was larger than any library he had ever been in before, it was huge and even bigger than that really. Books of every shape and size were in there. And hundreds of scrolls were in a section of cubby holes especially made for them. You could tell that who ever created this library wanted knowledge to be the key point in the riders life. Darius went over to the scrolls section and pulled out a scroll, it took him a minute to figure out what it was, but after a while he realized it was a map of all the waterways and tunnels beneath London. That could become really handy if one needed to get through London without being seen. He pulled out another scroll, it was the blue prints to one of the local mansions nearby, How did who ever lived here manage to get their hands on that. Darius couldn’t help but wonder. He looked through a few more and that is what several of them were, maps of several local mansions. Some hundreds of miles away but still they were within Britain and well known Nobility or Aristocracy. Then further down the wall he found several contracts that were for the protection of the said Mansions, that makes sense now. Who ever lived here before were a sort of hired guard and worked for the nobles and aristocrats to protect their mansions and themselves. These contracts were hundreds of years old, and expired ages ago.

Finally he left the glorious library and went further down and found the lady’s study, he could tell it was the lady’s study just because instead of the darker more serious nature of the gentleman’s study it had a more light and breezy feeling about it. It had more crystal and flowers about and it even had a grand music box that was huge in one corner, it was the largest music box Darius had ever seen. This room wasn’t just for women to do business in it was also for them to relax and just think in. It was brilliant.

Beyond that room was a music room. It had shelf after shelf of music, some in books, some in leaflets, and some loose. But it was all music. The room had every musical instrument that Darius had ever heard about and several that he had no clue of. Each polished and primed ready for use. Apparently music was a big part of these people’s life as well.

He kept looking around and found a ballroom, a huge dinning hall, a smaller dinning room, and the kitchen. Then he headed upstairs. He went to the first door to the right and found a beautiful room, on the bed were two things, he went over to the bed and picked up the first item, it was a bag of sorts. He had never seen a bag like this though. He picked it up and reached into it and pulled out a knife, then reached in and pulled out another knife, then a sword, he kept pulling things out until he figured out it was one of those bottomless bags he head heard about, he had never actually seen one but he had heard about them. They were rare and extremely expensive as far as he knew. He looked at the pile of goodies that had been in the bag that had been on the bed and decided to put it all back in the bag, it had all been useful things that you never know when you might need it, even the bow and arrows that he found in the bag would be useful. Then he went to the other thing, it looked like a small trunk so he put it on the floor first just in case and tried to open it. But it wouldn’t open. Darius sat down on the bed and tried to figure out how to get the little trunk to open up but he couldn’t see a lock or key anywhere so it didn’t make sense to him.

Finally a house elf popped into the room and almost scared Darius half out of his wits. But the elf introduced himself as Fritz the head elf there and that in order to get the trunk to open he must tap it with his wand. Darius looked confused, he didn’t have a wand. Fritz merely popped away and popped back with a huge tray of wands, dozens of them and laid them down on the bed. Darius had no clue what to do, so the elf told him to pick up each wand and hold it, give it a little wave, if it was to be his wand he would know. So he did, the first few wands he got no response at all, then he blew up a chair, definitely not his wand and he put that one back, two more wands, nothing, and then he picked up one that sprayed blue and silver sparkles everywhere, he could feel its power all the way up his arm. It felt like a piece of him, it felt wonderful. Fritz cheered and told Darius to tap the trunk with his new wand now and so he did.

The trunk returned to its normal size but he noticed that if you lifted off the top tray, that it had a ladder going down, so curious him, he went down, and he couldn’t believe it, inside the trunk was a kitchen, a bedroom, a bathroom, a living room, a study, a library and a potions room. It was amazing. It had a whole house inside the trunk. A person could live down here if they had to.

Darius came out of the marvelous trunk and decided to look around in the wardrobe hoping to find a pair of pants to replace the ripped and stained pair he was currently wearing. As luck would have it, in the wardrobe hung several pair of black leather pants and white standard shirts, the shirts were a little out dated but who cares really, way out here who’s to notice anyway. So Darius picked out a shirt and pants and put them on, they fit him perfectly. They weren’t even tight in the shoulder, which is a problem with shirts he normally found in rag boxes he had to pilfer through to get clothes to wear when he was on the streets. He couldn’t help but smile at this fact as he checked the length of the shirt on his arms, even perfect there. Amazing. Its like these shirts were made for him. Even if they were two hundred years out of style. There were even dragon hide boots at the bottom of the closet, real dragon hide, not just leather either. Darius pulled them out and tried them on, they were a little big on him but he didn’t care, if he had to stuff a sock in the toe he would make them work. He had a pair of dragon hide boots. Fritz popped back into the room and noticed the boots being a little too big and with the snap of his finger they suddenly fit perfectly. Like they were actually made for him. Just like the shirts and pants. There was even a black cloak hanging in the wardrobe so Darius took it out and tried it on, oh he loved this. It had several pockets made into the inside for all kinds of goodies. It was made out of soft doeskin so it was lightweight and soft to the touch, you could tell it had been well maintained because it practically glistened in the sunlight that streamed through the window, he took the cloak off for a moment.

Darius went over and shrunk down the trunk and placed it inside the bottomless bag then put the bottomless bag over his shoulder and draped the cloak around his shoulders again, then went over to the floor length mirror that was standing in the corner of the room. He blinked, and blinked again, he couldn’t believe what he was seeing, he looked like one of the Riders of old. Like the paintings in the study and library.

Darius left the room he had claimed as his room and went to look at the other rooms on this floor and he found that there were seven other rooms that had the same make up on them, a bag and trunk on the bed just waiting for someone to claim it. And he went over to the wardrobes and they were full to with the same leather pants and white shirts and dragon hide boots, and doeskin cape. Each room was exact as far as he could tell with the only variance being the size of the clothes inside the wardrobes and to tell you the truth there wasn’t that much of a difference. Nothing an elf couldn’t take care of anyway.

For the next several days things got into a rhythm of sorts, for the morning hours Darius would spend exploring the castle, the afternoon were spent with Pulcher and the other Darcorns, getting to know them as well. Then the evenings were spent reading the journals of the past Riders and owners of the castle as it passed down through the ages. As the months passed by Darius began to realize that the Riders used to be well known for protecting the people from raiders and criminals of all sorts. The only problem was that they were for hire to the elite of society, and Darius didn’t agree with that. That left the common man unprotected against all the dangers out there. He wanted to take up some of what the old Riders stood for but make it better. He wanted Riders to be for everyone, and no more of this… for hire stuff… Riders should protect the people because it is the right thing to do, not because they are paid to do so.

Darius was there almost six months when something odd happened, Asia, one of the three year old stallions, perked up all of the sudden and began to act funny. Darius watched him for a while, then Pulcher told Darius that Asia could feel his Rider. Well Asia wanted to head out after him immediately but Darius managed to get him to slow down long enough to get a bridle and saddle on him. Then Darius on Pulcher and Asia, took off in search of Asia’s new Rider. It took half a day’s ride to reach the place, but it was a huge grand mansion.

“You sure this is the right place my friend?” Darius asked.

Asia nodded his mighty head saying yes this was the right place, he was sure of it, his Rider was near it, he could feel him. He could sense him nearby.

Darius got down off of Pulcher and went up to the magnificent doors and knocked, a house elf answered, apparently this was the Malfoy Mansion. When Darius introduced himself and asked to speak to the Lord of the House, the little elf squeaked and shut the door, moments later a rather handsome middle-aged man opened the door and asked what this was about.

“I am Darius Singleton and I am a Rider, this is my mount Pulcher and this is one of our herd that states he feels his Rider is within this place, a male, perhaps someone young that has just come into his own, is there such a young man here?” Darius asked.

“A young man coming into his own, that would be my son Nicholas. But he is nobody’s Rider, and to insinuate it is a cruel and heartless joke on your part young man, now leave before I call the law.” And the man began to shut the door.

“My Lord, would it hurt to have them meet. I guarantee it is not meant to be cruel or heartless, we are serious about this. If the stallion is mistaken I shall take my leave of here and bother you no more, with my sincerest apologies. But please, allow him to at lease meet your son, he has recently turned seventeen has he not?” Darius asked.

“Today is his seventeenth birthday in-fact. We are having a celebration for him today, very shortly, and I will not let you ruin it with this nonsense.” Lord Malfoy stated.

“It will only take a moment and then we shall leave you in peace, I swear on my magic.” Darius stated.

At that Lord Malfoy stopped short and reopened the door, “On your magic,” he stated then he looked down to the elf who had originally opened the door and ordered him to go get Master Nicholas. A moment later a young man who looked like a carbon copy of the elder Malfoy came into the room being led by a house elf. There was something off about his eyes, they looked into nowhere and everywhere all at once, Darius couldn’t explain it.

“As you can see my son is blind, he has been since he was five, he was blinded in a broom accident. Now you see why my son cannot be your Darcorn’s Rider.” Lord Malfoy stated rather shortly.

“Its him, that’s him” Asia stated firmly, pawing the earth.

Pulcher told Darius what Asia said, and Darius informed Lord Malfoy.

“Wait a minute, I am what. What are you two talking about and who is that, that I can hear in my head.” Nicolas asked.

“You can hear him already? Amazing. I’m Darius and who you’re hearing is a Darcorn stallion that says you are his Rider, he has come a long way to meet you.” Darius stated.

“I can’t be anyone’s rider, I’m blind, I can’t see to ride a horse. I would love to be able to ride a horse, even more so a Darcorn, but it just isn’t possible.”

“What? Well I guess…of course,” Said Nicholas, apparently answering Asia as he spoke in his head, then he had the little elf lead him over to Asia until Nicholas could reach out and pet his muzzle. He felt the beautiful muzzle of the strong stallion, then the head, and finally the horn, that was amazing, it felt all tingly and sparkly or something.

“That is enough! You have tortured my son enough! Nicholas come back inside, your party starts in an hour, your guests will be arriving soon you must get ready for them.” Lord Malfoy glared a Darius and the Darcorns.

Then suddenly Asia did something that no one expected, he laid his horn on Nicholas’ head, right between his eyes. Nicholas closed his eyes like Asia suggested and waited, for what he didn’t know but he did as the great stallion instructed. After a few minutes Asia pulled back staggering slightly, Pulcher stepped forward and pressed his horn against Asia’s and in but a moment the strong stallion was standing proud and strong again.

Slowly Nicholas opened his eyes and gasped. “Father!”

Lord Malfoy rushed down the steps of Malfoy Manner to his son to reach his son and pull him away from the Darcorn. “What did that beast do to you?” He grabbed Nicholas and turned him around to look at his face to see if the beast had bit him or gored him or something. He was surprised to see his son’s eyes focused on his own, not the clouded eyes he had regretfully had gotten used to. He was taken aback at first but he looked closely at his son’s eyes and looked again, his son was looking at him directly, watching every move he made, taking in every detail of his face.

“Father you are gorgeous.” Nicholas said.

“What? What did you say?” Lord Malfoy knew he hadn’t heard correctly.

“I can see you, you are so handsome, I am so happy that the first thing I saw other that the Darcorn that is, was you. You are amazing.” Nicholas said with a huge grin on his face, he reached up and took his father’s face in his hand and a tear started to form in the corner of his eye. “He cured me, he gave me back my sight, I don’t know how, but he did.”

The great Lord Malfoy trembled at the possibility, the mere possibility that it was true was too much to dream of. He son took his hand and walked him over to the great beast that had supposedly done this marvelous thing, and he stood there staring at it in amazement. “How?”

Darius smiled at the shocked father and smiled. “If it is a true connection, the Darcorn has the ability to heal his or her Rider, it appears the connection is a true one.”

“By the gods… what do I owe you….how can I repay you?” Lord Malfoy stuttered.

“No payment is necessary, that isn’t why we came here, we came here to unite this stallion with this young man, and for no other reason. Anything that happens beyond that is from the gods.”

“If you would join us for the festivities, it seems we have quite a bit more to celebrate than just my son turning seventeen tonight.” Lord Malfoy asked. And Darius nodded, stating that they would but he said that the Darcorns would have to find a safe place to hide, Wizards tended to hunt them for their horns and they didn’t want to risk it while they weren’t with their Riders.

“The stables, they are welcome to use the stables, I shall inform the elves that you are coming and to make you at home.” Pulcher and Asia nodded to that and followed the little elf around to the stables. Then Lord Malfoy, Nicolas, and Darius walked inside the mansion.

As they were coming into the foyer of the large mansion there was a gorgeous woman coming down the massive staircase, she walked eloquently over to them and placed a hand on Nicolas’ arm, but before she could say anything he said, “By all that is magical, your even more beautiful than I imagined Mother.”

It took a moment for the reality of what he said to sink in and then she gasped and her eyes rolled back in her head and she fainted, thankfully Lord Malfoy was there to catch her before she hit the ground and he picked her up and carried her into the lady’s parlor and placed her gently on one of the fainting benches there in the room. Calling immediately for an elf to get a calming draught and to contact their healer. A few moments passed and Lady Malfoy began to moan and gently open her eyes, Lord Malfoy pressed the calming draught to her lips and had her drink it to help calm her nerves. She had quite a shock after all.

“How are you feeling, my love?” He asked her, holding his hand on her’s gently.

“I had the most unusual dream Alexander, I dreamt that Nicholas was sighted and that he called me beautiful.” Lady Malfoy stated her voice in an almost far away tone.

“My love, you were not dreaming, Nicolas was healed, he is sighted now, he did stated that and he did see you as you came down the stairs and approach him.” Lord Malfoy stated gently.

“Don’t be cruel Alexander, he is right behind you, you shouldn’t say such things. Especially when he is within earshot of it.” She admonished her husband firmly for his words, thinking them cruel, not realizing they were true.

“Mother,” Nicolas came over and knelt down beside the fainting bench and placed his hand on his mother’s. “The rose color of your gown brings out your porcelain complexion perfectly, it makes your checks seem so rosy and healthy looking without looking pale or washed out. And that ruby and diamond necklace sets off the whole outfit just beautifully. It sparkles and dazzles the eyes and draws your attention without being too gaudy or large for your frame. Your eyes just glisten like the diamonds and sparkle even brighter than they ever possibly could. You are beautiful beyond words and I am so proud to be your son.” Nicolas stated. Holding his mother’s hand close to his cheek.

“You can really see? How? How is this possible?” She asked, as the tears began to slowly slide down her cheeks.

Nicolas fished in his pocket for his handkerchief and then he dabbed a the tears that his mother was crying. “Now mother, you don’t want to go and mess up your make up now do you.” And he proceeded to tell her everything.

“A Darcorn? A Darcorn gave you back your sight? But aren’t they dangerous? I thought they were extinct.” Lady Malfoy questioned.

Darius cleared his throat, “Excuse me Ma’am, my name is Darius Singleton, and I am the one that brought the Darcorn stallion to meet your son. Darcorns are rare yes, but not extinct. And they are no more dangerous than a standard horse, at least to their Rider that is. The Stallion would never dream of hurting your son, he wouldn’t even imagine it, it would be like hurting a part of himself. They are already able to speak telepathically. Which is unusual, it normally takes days or weeks even. They must have a very strong connection indeed.” Darius explained.

“But does that mean he would have to leave us, and go with you?” Lady Malfoy tentatively asked, as if she were afraid of the answer.

“In truth Ma’am, yes. Darcorns are hunted by Wizards, and the only place safe for them right now is the place that has been created for them, where they live currently. That doesn’t mean that he can never come out and visit though, He can come and visit as often as you like, and of course we are connected to the floo network so he can be here in the blink of an eye, one owl and he will be here. Anytime, day or night you need him, or you can just floo call him to talk to him any time you wish. But if he takes this position he never has to worry about a job, a place to live, or an income for the rest of his life, it will all be taken care of. There are house elves there to see to his every need, the castle is more than large enough to keep him entertained for a long while, and quite comfortable to boot.” Darius stated.

“Castle?” She asked

“Yes Ma’am Rider Castle. Is a place specifically designed and created for the Darcorns and their Riders.” Darius stated.

“Why haven’t we heard more about this place?” Lord Malfoy asked.

“There is a need for secrecy. If the Wizarding world knew that there were a herd of Darcorns alive and living behind the walls of a castle somewhere they would stop at nothing to find it and kill the Darcorns there, their horns are that prized. After all you saw what one could do for your son. Think of what it could do in a potion. Unfortunately it would mean killing the Darcorn to find out. They are fierce and brave beasts but they are not stupid by any means, that is the reason they have live behind those walls for hundreds of years, and it has been over two hundred years since the last Rider was found. I am the first Rider that was found in the last two hundred years, and it appears your son is the second. Why this is happening now, we have no clue. In the past, the Riders used to be hired bodyguards that worked for the elite, the nobles and aristocracy of the nation. But now we want to do what is right, without being paid to do it. Truth, Justice, and Honor. Those are the things we stand for. That is what makes us who we are.” Darius stated.

“Father, I wish to go with them. I realize that my sight coming back has been a great surprise to you, and a miracle to say the least. But I am seventeen now and I am of age, I am allowed to make my own decisions and I decide to follow with the Riders. If after one year, it isn’t what I expect it to be, I will return and take up my place here as second son at the Malfoy household. Lucien is nineteen now and apprenticing to be a Barrister just like you. In a few years he will be a full Barrister and taking his place beside you. I was never going to do that. I was just a burden, and until today…when my sight was returned…I had nothing in my future but darkness and hopelessness. Living here as a burden and a stone around your neck, allow me this, I ask of you.” Nicolas asked softly.

Lord Malfoy looked into his son’s eyes and saw the pain that was there, How could he say no to this, how could he deny his son anything. Especially after the Darcorn had already given his son such a wonderful gift. Lord Malfoy reached over and in a rare show of gentleness ran his hand through his son’s hair and nodded. “For you, I will agree. But, for one year. If after one year, you are not happy or haven’t found the place that you desire, then you are to come back home and we will find you a place here at Malfoy Manner. And you were never a burden, you were always my son, and I will forever love you with all of my heart.” And with that father and son did something that they hadn’t done since before Nicolas lost his sight, they hugged. After a moment they released each other and stood back not knowing really what to say or do. Then an elf popped into the room letting them know that guests were starting to arrive.

With that the family went into the receiving hall and began to formally receive their guests for the evening. The evening was full of all kinds of surprises. The young women and even some of the young men were all over Nicolas now that they realized that he had his sight back. It seemed like they all wanted to dance with him and they all wanted to take up his time. He tried to be a gracious host and spread himself around as much as possible but at points it was rather difficult and he found himself floundering in wave after wave of people. More than once his father had to come ‘rescue’ him and introduce him to someone that he wanted him to meet, as a means of distraction. The party went well into the night, until Nicolas finally told his father that he was getting too tired and he was sitting out more dances than he was dancing any more.

Lord Malfoy announce that the party had come to a close and that he thanked everyone for coming and their wonderful time, then he bid everyone good night. Slowly the grand ballroom began to empty and the place began to clear. It was about that time that Darius went to bed in the room that the elf had showed him to,

The next morning both Darius and Nichols were up early, both too excited to sleep. At first they talked about what a normal day was like, and then they talked about what the possible future would hold, would there be more riders. The whole Truth, Justice, and Honor thing that he mentioned last night. The idea of helping others. The possibilities of the future and ideas of what it might bring. And the more they talked the more excited Nicolas became. It was almost eight o’clock in the morning when Darius asked where their kitchens were, Nicholas just called for an elf, and had the elf lead them to the kitchens.

Once in the kitchen Darius asked the elves there for a nice sized roast or a ham or something along that line. And within moments they presented him with both. So he took out his knife and began cutting away, cutting each into squares about one inch square in size. Then he asked for a potato sack which they again supplied, he put all the meat in the sack and he ask to be led out to the stables, the little one that led them to the kitchen happily led them to the stables. Once there he spotted Pulcher and Asia in their stalls talking away with each other wide awake. He walked over to his partner and patted him on his muzzle,

“Well Nicholas do you take this Stallion to be your mount, your partner in all things from this day forward?”

Nicholas stepped forward and placed his hand on Asia’s muzzle and looked into his big fluid eyes and nodded, “I do, he is a dream I never knew I had, but have always wanted.”

“Okay you need to feed him some of this meat, to prove that you are willing to take care of him and tend to him in the future.” So Nicholas took the potato sack and reached in and pulled out a handful of the meat and then looked confused.

“Just lay your hand out flat, he will eat it right out of the palm of your hand.” Darius said.

That is exactly what Nicholas did and Asia did as Darius stated, he gently picked up each square of meat and ate each piece until they were all gone. Then he nodded his head as if to say he agreed.

“Now you have to name him.” Darius stated.

“What should I name him, there are so many to choose from, Name him after a star? No. How about a god? No, A mythical hero? No. A gem? No. A famous Wizard? No. A Place? Yes you want to be named after a place, okay well it needs to be someplace special, someplace exotic, fantastic….what about Paris? No, Persia?No, Asia? Yes… you want your name to be Asia. Very well, I shall call you Asia. You are definitely as beautiful and exotic as the silks and spices that come from Asia oh and the tapestries, I have heard of the most wonderful tapestries. Full of vibrant colors and depicting wondrous scenes within them. I have imagined what they look like. Mother had described them to me. And they sound absolutely brilliant.”

“Now when we get to Rider Castle you will get to pick out a room. That will be your room for as long as you want it but there are two things I wanted to give you first. These two things are strictly Rider’s, for Riders and no one else. You can’t let anyone else mess around with them, understood, you’ll see why in a minute.”

Confused Nicholas nodded.

With that Darius unhooked the bottomless bag from around the saddle of Asia and reached into it and pulled out what looked like a little trunk and sat the little trunk on the ground. “Now I know you probably don’t have a wand yet, something we shall have to take care of this morning. But for now you can use mine, but tap it on the lock to open the trunk.” Nicolas took Darius’ wand and it sparked a little, proving he did have magic, but that this definitely wasn’t his wand. Then he tapped the little trunk on the place indicated, and in moments the little trunk became a full sized beautiful trunk.

“Wow, how beautiful.” Nicholas said.

“You think that is something, take that tray out of the way,” Darius accepted back his wand and smiled, waiting for Nicolas’ reaction.

Nicolas removed the tray and saw the ladder that went down, this shocked him, he looked over to Darius with a question look on his face.

“Go ahead.” Darius urged.

So Nicolas headed down the ladder and into the trunk, what he found inside amazed him, there was a bedroom, a bathroom that was huge, a kitchen, a study, a fully stocked library, a potions room, and a music room with several musical instruments in it. Nicolas climbed up the ladder and looked at Darius with great wide eyes.

“How do you like your new second home?” Darius asked.

“What? This is mine? Your kidding? Really?” Nicholas gasped.

“Really, each Rider gets one, It’s part of being a Rider, the same with the bag.” Darius said as Nicholas climbed out of the trunk and put the tray back in the trunk and closed it, then shrunk it back down using Darius’ wand.

“That is magnificent. And it fits into that bag, how?” Nicholas asked.

“Put your hand in there and see what you can find.” Darius stated. So he did. And he pulled out several things including a bow and arrows, complete with a gorgeous quiver, a sword and several daggers. A cloak or two and some books. Then he stopped pulling things out and looked at the pile of things, not really believing his eyes.

“How?” Nicholas asked.

“Wizard’s space, it is called a bottomless bag, they came out with them years ago but they were rare and hard to make, the owner of the Castle we live at had them commissioned for his Riders each year until everyone of his Riders had one. Now they are more common that they used to be, but they are still hard to find. I plan on getting more of them when I find them, so that we have a few extras available if we need them. The same with the trunks, Wizard’s space. And to be quite honest if we are out on the road we could rent a room in the shittiest, most rat infested dump in town and go into it with our trunk and be staying in luxury the whole time and no one would know but us. We have everything from cooking to entertainment to a work space slash study down there and no one would know, nor can they know. If anyone knows what we have in there we loose part of our advantage, so tell no one what you have in that little trunk or that the trunk is in that bag. And let no one get ahold of your bag, got it?” Darius asked.

“Got it, and it makes sense. This could be a huge advantage, even if we had to camp out in the wilderness somewhere, we would be doing it in pure luxury. I wouldn’t want anyone to try and steal that from me. I want to learn how to make potions, how to cook and how to read the written word, I want to learn how to play all those instruments that are down there, I want to learn it all.” Nicholas said with a huge grin on his face.

“I will teach you everything I know.” Darius promised with a smile and Nicholas placed all the things he had taken out of the bag back into it and then he even put the trunk into it, totally amazed that it would all fit.

The two suddenly realized what time it was getting and though it was getting close to noontime and that the Malfoys would soon be wondering where their son was, if they weren’t already worried about that. So they went inside, and they were right, they were met by a flustered Lady Malfoy who had a thousand questions for them about where they had been and what they had been doing. Darius just explained that they had been out feeding and tending to the Darcorns and apologized for their absence, that they had not meant to cause anyone any concern.

“We need to be heading into Diagon Alley today if at all possible, this young man need some supplies and he needs to get his first wand.” Darius stated.

“Oh my yes, his first wand, how exciting, I shall get ready immediately.” Lady Malfoy said as her face brightened.

“Mother, I am seventeen years old. Please allow me to go do this on my own. I know the idea is exciting to you but I wish to do it on my own. I’m a man now, please.” Nicolas pleaded and her faced fell slightly, she reached up to touch his face.

“My baby is all grown up and I never knew it, where had time gone. Oh Alexander our son is such a grown man now, what ever shall we do?” Lady Malfoy asked.

“We shall acquiesce to his request and allow him to have his time in Diagon Alley. It is after all every young man’s dream, their first trip to the Alley without their parents tagging along with them.” He smiled at his son and nodded. Then he looked over to Darius and stated, “You will of course look after my son while he is out will you not?”

Darius looked at Lord Malfoy with all the seriousness in his body and stated, “He is a Rider now, I will guard him to my death.”

With that Lord Malfoy nodded and agreed to allow the two to go to Diagon Alley, but he insisted that Nicolas take a large bag of gold with him, which he put in his bottomless bag, for any purchase he wished to make.

The two flooed over to the Alley through the public floo, which was filthy as normal, but a quick wand flick and the soot was gone from each of them. “Okay, first your wand, then we can go look around a little.” Darius stated.

Nicolas nodded and followed along behind Darius as he led the way to Ollivander’s Wand shop. Once inside the clerk asked who was seeking a wand today and Nicholas stepped forward, the young woman smiled real big and seemed pleased with that. Darius tried not to roll his eyes, he thinks he managed not to but he wasn’t sure if he was able to or not. The woman appeared to be in her early twenties and found Nicolas to be attractive, which was not surprising, he was a rather fetching young man after all. Nicolas just smiled and asked if they could hurry this up a bit he had a lot of shopping to do. So the clerk nodded and took some measurements of his dominant arm, then headed back to the stacks, and returned with several long narrow boxes, which Nicolas assumed contained wands.

“All you need to do is take the wand out of the box and give it a wave, we will know your wand when it gives off sparks or streamers or something of that sort.”

After five wands Nicolas face was beginning to fall, after eight he was beginning to look hopeless, then on the ninth one he found it, the green and silver sparks filled the storefront of Ollivander’s and the young woman practically squealed with excitement. “There you have it, that is definitely your wand.” She stated.

Nicolas grinned from ear to ear, staring at the Ebony and unicorn hair wand he had in his hand, thirteen and a half inches, nice and strong, good for defense and healing both. Very loyal to its owner and never useful to anyone else. Nice wand indeed.

Darius slapped his new friend on the back in congratulations and paid for the wand and he also got a wand holster to go with it. He also bought himself a wand holster while he was at it, since he didn’t have one of his own yet. As they left the wand shop they tried to figure out where to go to next and Darius decided they should go to Slug and Jiggers Apothecary carried, the house elves had put as many fresh ingredients as they had available into the potion room of the trunk but Darius knew that Nicolas would need more plus he would need a good stock of potions to start him off with. Also he wanted to get Nicolas started on Nutrient Potions, he was going to be doing a lot of riding and physical activities that he wasn’t used to, so he needed something to supplement his diet until he could build up his muscle mass and maybe gain a little weight. He was just a little slender right now, not slender on the sickly side mind you, more along the lines of slender like an aristocrat that had never done a days work in his life. If he wasn’t on Nutrient Potions, he would suffer for it later. So off they went.

“First we need to get you kitted up.” Darius stated as he headed over to the counter.

“What do you mean?” Nicolas asked.

“You have a complete, working potions lab down there and you need to get set up on ingredients, the elves back home put a bunch of ingredients that we had readily available to us in your lab, but you need to get some of the harder to find and more rare items here and you need to get several ready made potions while we are here as well.” Darius stated, then he went over to the clerk.

“Yes, I am a Rider and we have a new Rider that needs to be kitted out, I would like a full potions lab set up for him if you please.” Darius could practically see the clerks mouth watering at the idea of gold he could get off of these two. “Oh and we will need six cases of Nutrient Potions as well.” With that Darius grabbed a large basket and headed over to the shelves that held the pre-made potions and began going through them, picking up six of anything that looked good. Everything from Saddle Sore balm to Burn Cream, and everything in the middle. Potions for headaches, potions for stomachaches, potions for sore muscles, Dreamless Sleep potions, Anti-Poison potions, toothache potions, earache potions, sore-throat potions, cough potions, dizziness potions, stress potions, calmness potions, nausea potions, Essence of Dittany, congestion potions, wakefulness potions, pregnancy potions, memory potions, concussion potions, Bone Mend, Skele-Grow, fever potions, you name it he got the potions for it, and then some.

Then he went over to the books section and picked out several books that he knew they didn’t have in the library and put them in his basket as well. Which he took up to the counter, the basket was practically overflowing by now.

Nicolas couldn’t believe how many potions Darius had purchased, he didn’t think he would ever use that many potions, not in ten lifetimes. And he said so.

“You may not but what if you run into someone that needs help, or has some problem and doesn’t have any way to get a potion on their own, you may be their only help right then. It is better to have it on hand and not need it than to need it and not have it available.” Darius stated.

Nicolas could see the logic in that so he just nodded. Then the clerk came out with a shrunken bundle, and even shrunken it looked huge. Again he didn’t see the need in all these things, but once again Darius explained, “You are going to want to learn how to make your own potions, so you will need the different ingredients to do so. Some you may use in only one specific potion, others you may use in almost everything, but for now we will get you a wide variety of ingredients so you have a starting place and see how you do and what you will need most and what you use up the fastest. Plus like I said the elves have stocked some things, so you will have a good idea of what all is available to you on a regular basis, at a moments notice as well.”

With that he nodded and allowed Darius to pay for the items and then he placed them in his bag and they headed to the next place.

“I need to get a few more modern shirts, while the shirts available to me are great, they are rather dated, and not that great to muck stalls out with. So let’s head over there, and see what they have at that clothing shop. So the two headed over to A Stitch In Time and went inside. After twenty minutes of being measured, pinned and prodded, the two walked out of there with maybe twenty shirts between the two of them, Nicolas definitely didn’t have anything appropriate to wear to work in either in his wardrobe so he got several shirts and a few pair of more basic pants. Then they went over to the cobbler and got Nicolas a pair of work boots.

Then they headed over to Flourish and Blotts to get some books. Nicolas knew basic magical theory since he had house elves read to him books on magical theory, and magical spells in general, even though he couldn’t do the magic himself he still wanted to know the information. He memorized everything he possibly could and could recite the ingredients to many of the potions that were taught at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Although he had never made a single potion in his life, he knew most of the ingredients by their smell and could tell you what potion it was just by the consistency and their smell. If all else failed he could definitely tell what they were by their taste. yuck….

They got a complete set of school books as set up levels one through seven just like what they have at Hogwarts. And Nicolas bought a set of books designed to help him learn how to read, levels one through five. He also got math books he knew basically how to do math in his head, and with beads on a bead form, but he needed to learn by sight how to do math. And that might take a while.

As they exited the book shop they headed to their last stop of the day, the luggage shop, Stowe and Packers Magical Bags. So off they went, and once inside Darius spotted them, and luckily they had three of the bottomless bags, they were pricey but he expected that much, and he had brought enough gold to purchase them.

He was glad that the owner’s of the castle didn’t exactly trust Gringotts and had kept a vault of gold hidden beneath the old castle, it was half filled with gold, the other half was filled with precious gems and jewelry of all forms. There were several swords in there and several more seven compartment trunks but no more bags. So Darius took it upon himself to stock up on those things as he could. When he left the luggage shop his money pouch had taken a severe beating but he was the proud owner of three more bags and he immediately tucked them into his bag for safe keeping. That means they had eleven now. They had thirty one Darcorns in their herd, it was going to take them forever to gather enough bags for everyone if the Darcorns start finding their Riders at any real rate of speed.

They went back downstairs to the Grocery Market and Darius suggested that Nicolas get some basic groceries for his kitchen, even if he couldn’t cook he could always eat sandwiches and fruit or something, maybe salads or who knows. But something, cheese, meat and bread if nothing else. The stasis charms were top notch in their trunks so food should last quite a while. So Nicolas got a selection of jerkies and cheeses, dried fruit and tinned fruit, some fresh fruit and vegetables and some candies of different kinds. He did have quite a sweet tooth he had to admit. He figured he would have the elves at home go through his kitchen and stock it up with anything he forgot and set him up. They would never tell a soul about it if they were ordered not to. So it would be safe to do so .

The two Riders headed back to Malfoy Mansion and Lady Malfoy who desperately wanted to see her son’s new wand.

“Ebony and Unicorn Hair, what an amazing mixture, good for both defense and healing. How proud I am of you. Well have you tried it yet? Try something simple like Lumos, I know you can do that one, just give your wand a wave like this and state Lumos, it will light up the end of your wand.

Nicolas raised his wand and stated “LUMOS!” Loudly and sure enough it lit the end of his wand, and every corner of the room too.

“Whoa there buddy, tone it down some, say Nox, and try again, this time more gently, your trying to light your wand tip, not blind everyone in the room.” Darius chuckled.

“Nox” this put out the wand, and Nicolas tried again “Lumos,” This time it was a normal, yet powerful, lumos. Nice and strong but nothing like the other one had been.

“There you go, you have now perfected your very first spell.” Darius congratulated him. “Well two actually, you also learned Nox.”

“Brilliant darling, absolutely brilliant.” Lady Malfoy beamed at her son. Who smiled back at her his best little boy grin.

They stayed there two more days and it was decided it was time to head back to the castle, at first, Lady Malfoy tried to convince Nicolas to floo over instead of ride, do to his inexperience, and the length of the journey. “Mother I have been ridding Asia for two days now and he is the gentlest mount I could possibly dream of. He is patient and gentle, he doesn’t react badly to my nerves or anxiety if things get a little much, he just talks me through it and we do just fine. He would never dream of letting me get hurt, but I tell you what, I will floo call you as soon as I am to Rider Castle to let you know I’m alright. Even if it is the middle of the night, I will have one of the elves wake you. How about that?”

With much hesitation she finally agreed, and allowed them to leave. Although there were tears in her eyes as she watched her youngest son ride away into the morning sun. She could never be more proud of him than she was that day.

The next several months went by quickly, Nicolas studied everything, he was like a sponge wanting to learn it all. He learned to read, to write, to do math, he learned potions, and to cook, he learned to play a guitar, and a mandolin. He learned to use a bow and arrow, a sword, a rapier, throwing knives and stars. He learned some healing spells, he seemed to have a special knack for those. He even learned to apparate, well short distances so far but he was learning. His magic was taking off in leaps and bounds too, it was like he was absorbing each and every spell he came too. He of course stayed far away from the darker side of things, but grey was perfectly acceptable as far as he was concerned. He wrote home every week and then went to visit his parent regularly to show them all that he had learned. He was getting broader across he chest and shoulders and he had even grew two inches. With those nutrient potion and the general exercise he was getting he was really turning out to be quite a knock out.

It was five months after Nicolas joined the Riders a four year old mare perked up and started prancing around like crazy. Darius knew the signs and got everything ready to go. After a week long trip they came back with Derbie O’Malley a Irish Wizard that had just turned seventeen.

Within two years they had twelve others that had been found and brought to them, each time they would all head out and greet the new Rider and bring them home. Some from Scotland, some from England, some from Wales, some from Ireland, but all within a weeks ride from the castle. They were all either seventeen or eighteen if they lived further away. And they were all part of the nobility or aristocracy. Each one had a noble or royal birth line to their name. None were first born sons though, thank goodness. And they all came to be what the Riders wished them to be in the end, a noble and heroic band of Riders that went out and helped the common man or aristocrat equally, where there was an injustice they resolved it, where there was a victim they were there to lend aid.

They trained together and learned together until they were a team, until they fought like a team, rode like a team, worked like a team, lived like a team. They wrote their adventures down in journals and over time more joined. Some left to join the military, or the church, or to have a family. It was down to just a few finally and Spanish influenza hit. It killed twelve of the remaining Riders, leaving only two to bury their dead. The last two so grief stricken couldn’t stand to stay at the great castle any longer took off in separate directions and headed off to morn in their own way, the death of their brethren too heavy on their mind. The Darcorns and the house elves staying behind to wait for the next generation of Riders to come and find them and make the Castle their home.

Then Harry shook his head and his eyes began to focus again, what in the name of hell was that! It was like he could see them all, he had seen them all. He had been there, it was like a pensieve.

“It was a memory that is passed down from generation to generation of Darcorns, so that we know where we come from, the great and mighty history that forged us.” Storm said sadly. Every time he thought back to the old stories it made him sad, all those Darcorns going without a Rider for so long. And his own three foals barley out of the womb already had chosen their Riders.

“Would you mind if I put this memory in a pensieve and allow my Riders to see this memory that you shared with me?” Harry asked.

“Not at all, maybe it will help them as it has help many before them.” Storm stated.

“Thank you my friend.” Harry continued to brush Storm for a while talking about nonsensical things, until he was finished, then he gave the stallion some boar meat and left him for a while, to go find his Riders and see what they were doing.

—————————————————————

“Well boss we have twenty new recruits starting training tomorrow, they managed to pass the entry test and we have the forty that just graduated, right now it looks like we are doing pretty good.” Tonks stated.

“For the minute, yes. But if Voldemort decides to strike during the Christmas break like that Alessio Giordano assumes they will, then we very well be short handed still. That is a huge building and putting enough people in that building to guard it properly while we have enough manpower on the streets is going to be rough. No matter how you look at it. Having men at every entrance won’t be enough, we will have to have patrols wandering the floors as well, just in case. I pray that I am wrong but I think the guy is right, I think they will hit on that one of those nights too. Close to Yule or Christmas, or perhaps New Year’s but one of them. Sometime that is significant and will cause the most dramatic effect on the people. That is what he is wanting with this attack. To traumatize the people, hurt as many people, shock as many people, terrorize as many people as he can. “ Amelia stated, looking through her paperwork on the new recruits.

“Is there any way we can warn people or anything?” Tonks asked.

“Not possible, that would start a panic, people would come in here by the droves demanding that we put up Aurors on their street, or to guard their house specifically, they did that during the last war all the time. Somehow they thought since they paid taxes and they were pure bloods they deserved better treatment than other people, so they would demand patrols on their streets specifically. And when you tell them that you don’t have the man power to do that, they demand to speak to the Minister, it gets to be a raging blood bath out there. All because certain people think they are the privileged and have earned the right to more protection than the average man or woman out there. Then you have the business owners who will be demanding that we put more patrols in Diagon Alley. Which is something that we will be doing actually, one patrol on each street starting the next week. They may be the new recruits but they are still Aurors and should be able to handle most of the problems that occur, or more accurately, they should be able to call in back up. As it gets closer to Christmas we will also put a patrol near Gringotts just as added backup, just in case. But that is five teams totaling ten Aurors out of new graduates right there. If we put one team of two on each floor that is ten people at any given time, at St. Mungo’s but you have three shifts during a twenty-four hour rotation. That equals out to thirty people to guard St. Mungo’s and that doesn’t include days off or possible problems you can run into. And it allows for only two people per floor at any given time. That isn’t much coverage at all. If there was an attack all they are there for is to call in help as quickly as possible and hopefully gather those that are already in St. Mungo’s to the right places. If they aren’t dead already.

“So the ones going to St. Mungo’s are basically look outs?” Tonks questioned,

“In a sense. They are our eyes, and first contact, they are the ones that tell us where the perps are focused and how many to expect. Maybe with them in position we can prevent a bloodbath and a complete disaster. Maybe we can keep this thing from running everyone’s Christmas.” Amelia stated although she didn’t sound very sure of that.