After Anna sent that devastating hex towards Ray, an unspoken truce seed to form between our two groups. It seed like Michael, and his friend had finally beco aware that we would fight back viciously, and at most, they would only be able to achieve a Pyrrhic victory.
In Ravenclaw, a pecking order seed to develop, with those who were achieving better grades at the top of the Pyramid. Before coming to Hogwarts, I had assud that everyone that sorted into Ravenclaw would be amazing wizards and witches. But, one thing the books seed to leave out was the sheer number of average students attending Hogwarts. Although I shouldn’t be too surprised, in the books, it ntioned that half of the wizards who worked at the Ministry of Magic couldn’t even perform a shield charm.
It seed that if even if soone was clever, it didn’t an that they were magical talented. While most Ravenclaw students overall did well in classes, so struggled to perform as well in classes that had more spell work involved. Such as Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, and in Transfiguration. However, even though most average students in Ravenclaw seed to have one or two subjects, they perford exceedingly well in.
My grades, and the ease in how quickly I mastered spells, compared to everyone in our house. Put at the top of the pecking order, in second place was Jessica, who always seed to glare balefully at because I consistently outperford her.
In November, the evening before the first quidditch match of the year between Gryffindor and Slytherin. I spent the evening in the room of requirent practicing the fire making charm, across from was a wooden dummy, pointing my wand at it. I chanted, “Incedio.” A bolt of fire erupted from my wand and hit the target.
Deciding that I had enough practice on making bolts of fire, I switched tactics, making bolts of fire was becoming effortlessly to . To truly increase my mastery of the spell, I wanted to make the fire more controllable rather than just blasting a fireball at sothing.
Concentrating on making a stream of fire, once again, I chanted, “Incedio.” This ti, a stream of fire flowed out of the tip of my wand, making its way through the room. Getting the flow of fire to change directions took enormous amounts of ntal concentration. Slowly but surely, the fire stream turned back towards . After it circled three tis, I cut the flow of energy off to it, and the fla disappeared, taking the heat with it.
As I continued practicing sweat began pouring down my face. Eventually, a headache began to build. Calling it a night, I headed back to the Ravenclaw common area, where I found my favorite comfy recliner free. Sitting down and leaning back, I began studying the strange patterns of stonework on the ceiling that had been bugging since the start of term.
A loud deliberate cough distracted , turning to see who was trying to get my attention, I saw Jessica Brooks glaring at . Rolling my eyes, I asked, “What do you want Jessica?”
Looking like she had to swallow a bitter pill, she grudgingly asked, “How are you picking up everything so fast? I never see you practicing in the Ravenclaw practice areas.”
Shaking my head, I responded, “First of all, I do practice, where do you think I am every night. Second, you need to relax, and have fun learning magic, your studying, and trying so hard to master everything, that it’s becoming a chore to do so. Learning is always easier if you love and have fun with what you are learning.”
“You don’t understand, I have to be the best, my parents were both in Ravenclaw, and they had the number one and two spots in the house. If I don’t put in an enormous amount of effort, I will fall behind.” Looking slightly hesitant, she cautiously asked, “Do you think we can practice together soti?”
Hearing her plea, I shrugged and said, “Sure, not tonight, my head is still pounding from pushing my boundaries earlier.”
Falling into a comfortable silence, she took a seat on a couch near and pulled out so howork to finish. I continued to study the strange patterns, the more I studied them the stranger they appeared to . Eventually, I could even swear I began seeing shapes and even more complicated patterns.
Turning towards Jessica, “I asked, “Have you noticed anything strange about the ceiling.”
A confused look appeared on her face; she glanced at the ceiling and said, “No, it looks normal to .”
Later in the evening, I headed back to my dorm, as I passed the statue of Rowena Ravenclaw, I noticed at the bottom, there was a small inscription, “Knowledge is all around, for those wise enough to find it.”
The next day, everyone was in excited for the upcoming match. Most everyone was rooting for Gryffindor, because throughout the last couple of years, Slytherin had dominated the other houses in the quidditch matches and the house cup.
I brought Athena with to breakfast, and afterward, most of the student body, along with the teachers shuffled out to the quidditch field. Catching up with Cedric, I said, “Save a seat, I need to do sothing.”\
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Nodding at Cedric said, Fine but hurry; I don’t want to be stuck in the middle of Anna and Alicia today, they both are supporting their teams. Knowing how aggressive Anna gets about quidditch, I think I’m going to need so backup, to run interference with her. With you around, she won’t go to out of control.”
Raising my eyebrow in confusion, I asked, “Why would you think I have a better shot at making sure she doesn’t go crazy.”
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Shooting a look that seed to question my intelligence, Cedric shook his head and said. “No reason
As Hogwarts emptied, I made my way to the first floor, where the vanishing cabinet was located. Setting Athena down I told her, “Alright you're the lookout if you see anyone coming down that hallway let know. Athena flicked her tail at and made her way to the end of the hall. After making a slight wrist movent, my wand shot out of my sleeve and into my hand, while performing the proper wand movent I chanted, “Wingardium Leviosa.”
The black nine-foot-tall cabinet rose up three feet off the ground beside , seeing that the cabinet was almost at the ceiling I rotated my wand, and the cabinet rotated from a vertical position to a horizontal one. Athena and I made our way through the castle; all was going well until we made it to the moving staircases. Athena let out a fierce hiss, panicking, I set the cabinet down along the wall, and made my way up the Athena.
Peering around the corner, I saw a scrawny dust-colored cat with large yellow eyes, frozen in place. “Shit,” I whispered. “That has to be Mrs. Norris, Argus Filch’s cats. Luckily she appeared to be frozen in fear, Athena let out another hiss and seed to communicate sothing to Mrs. Norris. In response, Mrs. Norris rolled onto her side and closed her eyes. Athena shot a smug look, demanding praise for her good work.
Scratching her head, I laughed and said, “You know, pride coth before a fall.” Once I got the cabinet back up, and we started again. As we made it to the seventh floor, I assud we were ho free when all of a sudden, a burst of water hit in the face. Sputtering, I looked for the offender so that I could unleash my wrath upon them.
From above , I heard a sing-songy voice ring out, “Look at the little wizard, squirm like a worm.” Glancing up, I saw floating towards the top of the room, a small individual that could be mistaken for a child. He had on a blue jester hat, with matching pointy shoes. His orange shirt covered in stars clashed horribly with his blue and red striped pants. He glead maliciously at , pulling back his arm to throw another water balloon at .
I sputtered, “Don’t you dare, Peeves.”
He laughed and pelted in the face again, “I’m not doing anything, I am just helping you wash your face.” Appearing on his face was a grin so big it distorted the rest of his features. Behind him was a pile of floating water balloon, seeing the number of ballons he had, I took off at a run.
Running down the hall with the cabinet behind , by the ti I made it to the room of requirent, Athena and I were thoroughly soaked, Athena was less than amused the situation. She glared balefully at the small floating jester, her eyes tracking his every move. Smirking to myself, I reached down and unsnapped her collar, right when her wing unfurled she launched herself at him with a loud yowl.
While Peeves and Athena chased each other in the air, I got the room to open, by thinking I needed a place to hide sothing where no one could find it. As I opened the door and got the cabinet in, I shouted, “Athena.” Right on cue, she bolted my way after swiping her claws across Peeves face, with a howl of fury, he followed right on her tail. As soon as she passed, I slamd the door in Peeves face.
I could hear Peeves shrieking in anger at being denied his revenge; Luckily, the room was so heavily enchanted, that he was unable to follow us in. Glancing around the room of requirent in shock, what was normally a small room was a giant-sized room filled with stacks of old objects that reached towards the enormous ceiling.
Picking a spot near the entrance, I set the vanishing cabinet down. I couldn't help but grinning, I had secured one possible entrance to Hogwarts, all I needed now was to get the pair from Borgin and Burkes, and I could have a passage all to myself.
Wanting to make sure the cabinet still functioned, I opened the door and stepped inside. Closing the door behind , I felt the familiar surge of energy that indicated I was on the other side, cracking the door open, I saw a poorly lit shop. Slowly closing the crack, I turned and faced the opposite direction and made my way back to the room of requirent.
Staring at the exit door, I asked Athena, “Do you think he is still out there?” She flicked her tail in anticipation, Laughing at her response, I said, “It would be nice if we could get the door to let us out on the ground floor, so we wouldn’t have to deal with him.
To my shock, when I opened the door, it was near to where the vanishing cabinet had on the first floor. Athena brushed past my legs looking for Peeves, seeing that he wasn’t there she chuffed and climbed up to my shoulder. Rubbing her head, I said, “Oh, this is going to be bloody useful, no more running madly back to the Ravenclaw room trying to make it back before lights out.”
The more I considered the endless possibilities of the ways I could use the room, the more impressed I was with whoever had co up with this enchantnt. I imagine that it was Rowena Ravenclaw herself that laid the enchantnt, after all, she is credited with many of the more complex enchantnts throughout Hogwarts, such as, the moving staircases.
By the ti I made it the quidditch pitch, the match was heating up, with Slytherin and Gryffindor were neck and neck. I found Cedric sandwiched in between both Anna and Alicia looking helpless, as both had forced scarves representing Slytherin and Gryffindor onto him. When he saw , his face lit up like he had seen a lifeline. Cedric wildly motioned to join them, to help take so of the pressure away.
As soon as I arrived, Anna furiously questioned, “You're supporting Slytherin right.” Not waiting for my response, she thrust a Slytherin scarf towards , clearly expecting to take it. Her eyes narrowed when I didn’t say anything.
Thinking back to my new rule not to make Anna upset, I quickly nodded and defended, “Of course.” Grabbing the scarf, I wrapped it around to show her my support.
Hearing my response, Anna shot Alicia a smug look, Alicia rolled her eyes. The rest of the match was enjoyable, and it ended with a Slytherin victory. The way back in, Anna taunted Alicia so much, one would have thought Anna won the match by herself.
Wanting to give Alicia a break, I asked, “Are any of you going to try out next year for your house teams.”
Cedric nodded and replied, “Yes, my goal is to play seeker. I want to help Hufflepuff win the quidditch cup; we haven’t co close to winning in years.”
Anna not to be outdone chid in, “I’m pretty sure if I didn’t, my dad would kill .”
Alicia nodded as well. Looking them all over, I said, “Well, all three of you trying out makes feel a little awkward for not wanting to do it myself.”
Confused, Cedric asked, “Why wouldn’t you try out, whenever, we play a pickup ga of quidditch, you play the best keeper.”
Shaking my head, I asked, “Is playing quidditch sothing you would like to do when you are older?”
Cedric shrugged and said, “What does that have to do with anything.”
Shaking my head, I inford him, “We only have seven years at this school; I do not plan on wasting several hours each day practicing for sothing I will never play outside of Hogwarts. There are many different branches of magic that I wish to study, while I am here and playing quidditch would slow down.”
Nodding his understanding, we all headed back to the castle, eager to get back to the warmth.
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