RS Cold + Kanga Take Hogwarts

I don't own Harry Potter nor do I own Dimars! Dimars are (c) to Dee Dreslough!

- o 0 o -

It was such a little thing really. It appeared to have been made out of obsidian. The statue of a muggle idea of what a dragon is and it stands about as tall as his thumb. The serpentine neck in bowed along with the horned head. The wings were folded upon the statue's back and the tail is curled twice about the legs of the statue.

"Are you sure you don't want it?" He asks his elder twin and Colin just rolls his eyes while continuing to read one of the gifted books they got early this morning for their birthday. I wouldn't be surprise to see him in Ravenclaw.

For once, his family decided to stick around the UK for their birthday, not that he ever really attended it once he grew fascinated with the forests that is surrounding their primary property and tended to vanish within its greenery during the summer.

But then, this is our eleventh birthday... He thinks, not the least discourage that most of the presents have Colin's name upon them as he picks up the statue with his left hand. The leather enchanted bracelets move backwards while doing so.

He turns the statue this way and that before walking over to his shelf and set the statue upon it. His shelf is fairly barren compared to Colin's but then, the bulk of his stuff is out in the yurt he enjoys living in. He'll have to remember to take the little statue out there after the party.

With that done, he wanders over to his bed and lies down upon it. "Shouldn't you change into something more appropriate?" Colin asks him and out of the corner of his eye he watches Colin push his glasses up.

He just grins, more then a little thankful that his rune scheme continues to function as well as it had when he created the bracelet at age five as it keeps him from needing glasses like his twin. Another one of his leather bracelets consists of a rune scheme designed to keep the temperature about an inch above his skin at a constant comfortable temperature.

In other words, he's never too hot or too cold, although if he were to be outside in a snow storm as he is dressed, the drain upon his magic would be very great as the rune schismatic draws upon his magical reserves. Otherwise the drain upon his reserves wasn't that much if he wore the appropriate cloths in said fictional snow storm.

"I don't see why I have to get fancied up, it's not as though they're here to see me." He points out. "Still can't believe our parents caved under the pressure Dumblies pressed upon them to invite those Corpse Eaters and their families."

"It's Professor Dumbledore, Harry, not Dumblies." Colin snaps and he grins at getting a rise out of his elder brother.

"And it's Kanga, not Harry. Besides, I don't see why you are defending the man, Cold, he's done nothing but butt in on how our parents raise you." He points out.

"Raise us, you mean." Colin corrects and he snorts. They got tired of tracking me down by the time I was six. He mentally counters, he relishes his semi-independence after all.

"What ever you say Cold, what ever you say." He retorts out loud. Colin cuffs at being called Cold once again but that's all of a reaction he gets.

After some minutes he gets up off his bed and looks out of the window. He sits down upon the chest that's under the window and watches as a few miles from the house, a tent has been erected and tables floating into it. His mom convinced his dad to hire a caterer for the party, it kind of goes without saying that the caterers were muggles as wizards don't supply said service as they rely upon their house elf servants to do such things.

Wish electronic things work in the manor, watching a bit of TV right now would be great. Glad my yurt and the outer rim of the property isn't warded enough to interfere with TV signals. He thinks, he had become really interested in TV during a trip to Japan. He even managed to purchased a TV set and stereo built by Japanese wizards, it wasn't the most advance piece of equipment they had but it was better then nothing.

I know Flare enjoys watching it, especially those late night horrors. Just glad Flare does something to keep the light and sound from reaching my bed when he pops in to watch those movies. He thinks, grinning as he recalls the young house elf's reaction to him giving Flare permission to watch late night TV as long as Flare doesn't have it so it would keep him up at night.

Wonder what Flare is doing now? I mean, with the caterer, Flare doesn't really have much to do today... He thinks, Flare was hired a week after Colin and himself survive that Halloween night. Their parents had left behind very convincing duplicates, a pair of rabbits transfigured to appear as their parents as well as under the Imperio curse(it wasn't illegal to use against animals, only against humans) to protect them after uncle Wormtail had left a note suggesting they take a night off.

Uncle Wormtail hasn't contacted them since the Dork Lord attacked them that Halloween night. His parents were torn between wanting to hunt for uncle Wormtail to find out why the man betrayed them to wanting to thank the man for alerting them to the incoming attack. Nobody ever explained why Hagrid showed up within minutes after the house started on fire... Why didn't reinforcements arrive when the Dork Lord showed up?

"Don't you have homework to do?" Colin asks him. He glances lazily over to his elder brother to give him a look before returning to watching what's going on below.

His parents were transfiguring piles of leaves and twigs into chairs. Uncle Padfoot and Moony would then summon them into the tent. Why don't they let us help? It would be good practice. He muses to himself as he takes a few items out of his pockets.

Through concentration, he manages to cause the wooden hoops to float. The little pebbles he had been practicing transfiguration on stubbornly refused to take to the air and even when they did, they didn't go as high up as the wooden hoops. After a while, he repockets the pebbles to focus upon the wooden hoops.

After a few seconds, hovering the wooden hoops proved fair easier without also trying to float the pebbles. In time he causes the wooden hoops to form patterns and to even cause them to play follow the leader. He always found manipulating smaller items to be far harder then larger ones since the smaller items can easily be crushed with ease.

His practice with these wooden hoops is to help with his control. I don't see why wandless magic is so hard to practice. Magic doesn't just suddenly exist when you get your wand. Accidental magic happens and can be channeled without a wand. He thinks as he causes the thirty hoops to snake around his outstretched arm.

"Masters James and Lilly wish for young masters to journey down before guests arrive." Flare says as the house elf pops. The hoops gently fall into his open palm as he glances over to the house elf wearing a pair of old patchy, leather pants that use to belong to him.

"It's that time already?" Colin asks and he snorts softly as he pockets the hoops. He gets up off the chest and heads for the door after Flare pops out of the room.

"Mom and dad aren't going to be pleased to see that you haven't changed into something more appropriate." Colin calls after him as he walks out of the room. He just waves his hand at his brother as he passes through the doorway.

He chuckles softly as he hears his brother curse. The joys of having twenty-five times hearing. He muses to himself, more then a little proud at piecing his elder brother's defenses.

Funny how we're suppose to be identical twins. Guess we are a prime example of different life styles even under the same roof. He muses, he already had an idea of what to expect from the other 'light' families' kids and a somewhat educated guess of what to expect from the 'dark' families' kids. His parents did associate more with 'light' families then with those who had supported the Dork Lord, the so called 'dark' families.

Wonder if Neville is going to be in attendance? Neville Longbottom was pretty the closest person he had to a human friend. He counted Flare to be a friend even though Flare is only a house elf.

- [ T ] -

"Colin Potter!" Dumblies' deputy calls out and a hush falls all over the hall. He watches as his elder brother walks up to the stool and puts the hat on.

Within seconds later, the sorting hat declares, "Gryffindor!" The whole of the student population cheers as his elder brother walks away from the stool to sit with the lions.

"Harry Potter!" The katty deputy says after the cheers die down. He snorts softly to himself as people have whispered conversations concerning his current attire and the usual rumors that circulate about him.

He wasn't wearing the assigned uniform because he had been in the process of winning a bet with the Weasley twins and a few other upperclassmen. Easy money. He thinks as he walks up to the stool to put the likely centuries old hat that hadn't been washed in centuries as well.

"Well, well, well, who'd have thought there would be such a bright mind within a 'class clown' such as yourself? You'd fit well in three of the four houses here at Hogwarts. You are too much of a handful for Hufflepuff. Too sly for Slytherin and more of a doer then a thinker for Ravenclaw." The sorting hat tells him privately before declaring, "Gryffindor!"

Polite clapping follows this for a few seconds but dies down as he walks towards his assigned table. He makes a beeline for Neville who smiles a bit too slyly for his liking. "Kanga."

"Leander." He says in greeting and Neville just sighs. He pats Neville upon the shoulder. "Always knew you were one." He adds and his friend flushes while finding the table very interesting.

"Leander? I thought your name was Neville." A boy he never met asks in a puzzled tone.

"It's his nickname for me. He did also give himself his own nicknamed, Kanga." Neville replies and he just nods.

"What do those even mean?" Another new face wonders and a bushy haired girl responds before he could answer, "Leander is Greek for Lion Man and Kanga means Raven."

Most of the others at the table fidget while a few mutter know it all under their breaths. The sorting continues while he studies the girl who had introduced herself to Colin ask Hermione Granger. He's not that offended that she hadn't introduced herself to him, after all, he likely had trouble written all over him considering his current attire.

She's going to have a really unpleasant time here. He decides as he glances towards the stool where students sit to be sorted. Wonder how long it'll take for people to realize I'm not sleeping in the dorms... I like my privacy after all. Although I guess I could make an ofter for Neville to join me in the yurt. He muses, he's really touched that Flare had gotten him a yurt as a birthday gift, one that is not just spacier then his previous one but also sports all kind of enchantments, ones he didn't even know house elves could do let alone set up.

His old yurt was still set up at home and he had left his old TV set there for Flare. He plans to buy a new one set come Feburary as he had a good idea of how to earn the money for such an advance piece of technology. Acromantula supposedly live in the forest. Their venom is worth a minor fortune and silken threads they create should fetch a pretty bit of gold too. Be a good way to practice my archery too. He muses as he mentally reviews what kind of runes he'll be placing upon the arrows to make them very lethal to Acromantula.

"Here's your money, Kanga." Fred Weasley says and a small pouch sails over to him as Dumblies begins talking. "Can't believe you actually did it." George pipes in as he begins to count his winnings.

"What did you do?" Hermione demands in a demanding tone. "Just make a bet with a few upperclassmen concerning the temperature upon the top of one of the express cars." He replies in a smug tone as he finds all of his winnings within the pouch.

The twins all nod in agreement with his answer, although they're smiling a bit too wide. Hermione frowns when she realizes she had missed out upon hearing the rest of Dumblies' speech. He ties the pouch to his belt as the food appears.

He waits until everyone around him has filled their plates before filling his own. He's a bit disappointed at the piss poor selection of greens and fruits. No wonder mom gave us those expanded boxes with that anti-withering charm on them that contain a good five months supply of fruit and veggies. All they serve is grease! He thinks and he can tell that Colin looks a bit ill at ease with the selection as well.

They might not like eating a lot of fruit and veggies during meals, as they usually are forced to consume them as snacks in-between meals cause that's all Flare's allowed to give them for snacks. It was a rule their mother laid down and their father helps enforce.

Both Colin and him pick what they wanted from the serving plates. They likely appeared picky but they just wasn't use to the selection nor to the amount of meat and meat filled pies. No pickled anything either. I hope this isn't want they serve every single dinner, it'd grow boring quickly. I wonder how it would go over if I talk a house elf into making personal meals for Colin and me? He muses, he's certain his mother would be willing to send him cook books to give to said house elf.

Hermione seems to be a bit surprised to see Colin and him seem to be picky eaters. It also likely highlighted the fact they were twin, identical twins at that despite their manner of dress and behavior. "You think they'll be serving all of this every meal?" Ron wonders after swallowing but before re-stuffing his mouth with food.

- [ T ] -

"That was surprisingly easy to set up." He muses as he studies the set up yurt, the one his good friend Flare had given him. "Must be the magic hanging about this place." He decides as he walks into it.

Hanging Fae lights come to life, softly illuminating the yurt. With a yawn, he shakes himself and begins to dig through his pockets for his shrunken luggage and furniture. It takes about an hour to set everything up, which includes a bathroom cabinet that fits easily five feet to the right of the door.

He enters into the cabinet to have a quick shower before hitting the hay. Who ever invented this cabinet was a bloody genius. You would think it was a recent innovation considering that it is still on the 'testing' list of items that the European countries have. He thinks while in the shower.

Not that it stopped mom from purchasing one for each of us for when we go camping. Heck, she not only purchased one of each of the items upon that stupid list and things that haven't been shared with the European countries since the majority of the world has given up on modernizing European communities. He muses, his mom and dad have books that would likely be found on European black lists. It's those modern types of books that he had used as references for his various runes, after all, runes didn't require much in the way of magic if done right and like potion making, wasn't monitored around muggles.

"Runes for Dummies, the greatest help book that a wizard can own. Kanji for Dummies is a second best too, very helpful when married with Runes." He muses before banishing such thoughts as he puts on a fresh pair of boxers and his PJs.

Once he's lying in his bed, he waves his hand while willing for darkness. The Fae lights go out and he sighs softly, waiting for sleep to claim him.

- [ T ] -

"Your not living in the dorms, are you?" His brother asks him while they were in the library. He glances up from his pros and cons list concerning him starting a business concerning his enchanted leather bracelets featuring rune schematics since he's still waiting for his order of unbreakable glass vials to show up so he can start collecting Acromantula venom.

"You're just noticing this now?" He asks his elder brother and Colin frowns as his brother sits down at his table. He doesn't hear Ron nor the usually circle of people that cling to Colin, so he concludes that his brother managed to shake them.

"This isn't like home! You're safer in the castle." Colin says and he snorts before chuckling softly.

"Cold, Cold, Cold. We have a supposed ex-Corpse Eater for a professor." He points out before adding in harsher tones, "If you don't care about that then look into the Chamber of Secrets. They never found that beast, Cold and they stopped looking decades ago since the Basilisk hasn't been seen since about fifty years."

Colin frowns and asks, "If they never found the beast, how do you know it's a Basilisk?" He sighs and sums it up, "What was language did a certain member of the founder four speak that is considered dark?"

Colin's eyes flash and he glares when it looks like Colin is about to comment upon that. Colin sighs before saying, "Dumbledore could have taken care of it, he does have a phoenix. He could have taken care of the beast on the sly."

"I doubt that. And if you want to continue this conversation, can we take it outside where we won't be overheard?" He asks.

"It's mid-October!" Colin snaps. "Why go outside when its warm in here?" His brother asks.

"Ever heard of a little spell called a heating charm? No? I'm sure it'll be worth learning for our future potion classes." He remarks scratchingly and Colin gives him a dirty look.

"You'd think you were the one who got the extra lessons." Colin remarks and he chuckles. "I'm just imaginative, Cold. I was allowed to learn at my own pace while our parents and uncles kept your nose in a book."

"Has dad been..." Colin trails off after a few minutes of silence between them. He raises an eyebrow at his brother, he's a bit puzzled about what their dad would be bugging them about.

"Panks?" Colin states, looking a bit smug at his confusion. "Ah... No, nor our uncles." He answers with a shrug.

"Really? I mean... You're the rebel!" Colin exclaims with a hint of disbelief and he laughs as he reaches over and ruffles his brother's hair in an affectionate manner.

"Never bothered to read up on the subject, Cold. I figured you'd be eager to follow in that set of hoof prints. I mean, when was the last time you cut loose?" He asks Colin and his brother flushes slightly while stuttering denials concerning being a true heir to that group.

"Hey Kanga. Colin." Neville says as their fellow Gryffindor wanders over to their table. He grins a greeting while Colin says a short hey.

"Did I interrupt a family meeting or something?" Neville asks after studying Colin and him. He shakes his head and motions for Neville to join them.

"Nothing really, just some chit chat." He tells his friend and Colin just nods, he could tell that his brother is a bit alarmed as Colin glances around the library, half expecting his hangers on to arrive behind Neville.

"I saw Ron and them down in the courtyard. They seem to be trying to get a game of catch going on." Neville informs Colin and his elder brother seems to sigh in relief while Neville gives Colin a pitying look.

"Reading up on potions?" Colin asks Neville as his brother reads the top book of Neville's pile. "Don't see why you just don't ask for grandmother to send you a tutor, Leander. Or you can get her to send you a ton of potion ingredients and we can set up our own potion lab in one of the old classrooms for practice." He muses.

"Wouldn't the last one be more dangerous?" Neville asks. "No more dangerous then Ex breathing down your neck." He pipes in and Colin nods in agreement.

"He's not a good teacher. I don't see why you gave him such a cool nickname though." Colin says and Neville answers, "Ex is short for Ex-Death Eater or, as Kanga calls them, Ex-Corpse Eater."

"More of a title then anything." He admits. "If I go into specifics he is Ex-Corpse Eater Number One." He adds and Colin rolls his eyes. "I've number coded all of the ex-Corpse Eaters." He states smugly while his table-mates roll their eyes.

"You're so loopy." Colin mutters and he just smirks in reply, after all, he found it funny since he, in his mind at least, uses common sense married to logic with a hint of magic to work through his problems.

"Better loopy then bitter." He remarks and Colin sighs. "Any who, I think I'm going to head off now. I want to have a shower before supper." He says after a few minutes.

"Weren't you working on your homework?" Neville asks as he takes his list, rolls it, and tucks it into his wide sleeve of his robe.

"Finished it last month." He pauses before explaining, "Funny thing, if you're willing to pay a bit of silver, you can get old homework plans from upperclassmen in Ravenclaw. The far-sighted members take careful notes of what assignments, what's on exams, and class lesson they got during their previous years of schooling to sell to younger students. Get enough of a range of them and you can have all your homework done for the whole year."

"Really? That's fairly cunning of them." Colin muses, empathizing the word cunning. "I don't suppose...?" Colin asks and Neville, too, looks interested in this.

"Depends if my shipment of vials shows up before Friday night. If it doesn't show... I'll let you know my price for the whole first year package this Saturday." He says and the two sigh, but likely figure its better then nothing.

- [ T ] -

The arrow nicks the dog size Acromantula on one of its legs. The spider jerks before collapsing like the first seventeen he's encountered within two hours of walking through the forest. Not that he has much time to do anything as he quickly focuses in on another charging Acromantula coming after him.

This arrow enters into the underbelly when the horse size Acromantula leaps at him. Another five arrows and he's got a total of seven dead Acromantula varying from cat size to horse size spiders. He glances around the forest before putting the arrow back into the quiver hanging from his belt and then shouldering his bow.

Walking up to the largest spider, he takes out a few glass vials. He takes the stopper from the vial and kneels down to place the vial under a fang. He moves a index finger to the back of the fang and with a bit of magic, the venom flows out of the gland, through the fang, and into the vial.

Upon filling that one, the magic stops pumping the venom out and he puts the stopper back in before taking an empty one and resumes the milking from that fang. And once that gland was empty, he milks the next gland in the other fang.

Once the venom has been milked and he walks out to the butt of the spider while holding a simple polished rune covered stick that shall be covered in spider silk soon. He finds the spinnerets and holds the stick to them while placing his hand upon the slightly hairy back quarters of the dead Acromantula. A bit of magic and the glands begin to ooze towards the spinnerets and then through them out onto the waiting stick.

Slowly he rotates the stick around, drawing more of the silk out of the spinnerets. Magic keeps pushing the silk out of the gland until nothing more came out. With a sigh, he takes out a paper bag and covers the stick and its bundle of silk before putting it into the knapsack with an expansion charm upon it.

He repeated the process another six time before he decides to leave, he's pretty much filled his quota of venom gathering since he doesn't have more then nine empty vials left and since it seems that Acromantula like to swarm their target with others of its kind, he would likely end up killing a number that he couldn't harvest from since he would be lacking empty vials to hold the venom. He had plenty of sticks to gather spider silk though, but then, they were easier to get then the unbreakable glass vials.

He didn't need to collect the arrows used to kill these Acromantula as they became ashes within seconds of coming into contact with their targeted species they were meant to kill.

He frowns as he feels an old scar hidden by his hair throb even though he is wearing his mental protection ring, something uncle Padfoot had gotten Colin and him when they turned nine. He hadn't thought to wear it until he started to get these odd aches coming from this hidden scar during defense class.

The ache subsides and he continues on to his yurt. Maybe I should look into getting something stronger... He muses as he glances at the jade stone ring of white gold. More make something more superior. He adds after a few seconds of thought.

"Wonder what he's doing out in the forest?" He wonders after arriving at his yurt. The six ward staffs that he set up wash over him before the yurt came into view.

"Whatever it is, it's going to be troublesome." He answers his own question as he reaches the door with a frown. He could only imagine what would drive that stuttering mess of a man out into the woods filled with Centaurs and Acromantula.

- [ T ] -

"Troll! Troll in the dungeon!" The supposed defense teacher shouts before adding, "Thought you should know."

And then the man collapses forward, onto his face. His eyes narrow at the fallen man. It hadn't been more then a week ago that he felt this man enter the forest and he seems to recall something about him being good with trolls.

"We should go!" He hears Neville say at his elbow as the mass of students are sent out of the Great Hall. He glances over at Neville and asks, "You trust me, don't you?"

Neville blinks before slowly nodding. "Good because I believe tonight, we'll be hunting a fraud." He informs Neville as he casts an illusion charm around them without using a wand and just whispering the spells since there were two of them.

As the students and other teachers leave, he slips a prototype upon Neville's hand. After a few minutes, the collapsed professor gets up with a smirk. "Better then I could hope for." The defense teacher muses without stuttering at all.

They wait until the man has left the Great Hall before following after. He takes his wand and casts a silencing charm upon their feet before they left the Great Hall altogether. They silently walked after the turban wearing man with about twenty feet between them.

They arrive at the third floor and witness the confrontation between Ex and the stuttering man. The three headed dog lunges towards the two men and without thinking, he silently stuns the defense professor and watches with a bit of horror as one of the heads bites the stunned man's head off.

His horror deepens as some kind of wraith exits out of the body and begins to drift towards Ex. His old scar throbs like nothing before but he grinds his teeth together as he takes out another prototype, only this one was meant to do something to ghosts, stun them he had hoped not that he had a chance to test it as he tosses it at the wraith and as it sails through it to land upon the floor, the little box suddenly explodes.

Ex and the wraith cry out in pain when the light touches them. The three headed dog doesn't pause and bites Ex upon the shoulder. The light dies and the wraith glares about before fading through the floor while Ex is shaken about until the arm comes right off of Ex.

He uses his wand and casts a powerful sleeping charm upon the canine. Neville charges forth to attend to Ex. He takes out the alarm coin and activates it before tossing it upon the ground. Seconds later, his dad and Padfoot arrive.

"Harry! You ok?" His dad asks, it seems that the illusion charm vanished when Neville broke from him.

"I'm kind of ok... I think I caused somebody to die tonight and another to be crippled for life." He says numbly and his father pulls him in and strokes his back while uncle Padfoot moves to stabilize Ex.

What happened when his other uncle and mother arrived became a blur as he somehow ended up tearing up. He dimly recalls his mother screeching at the arriving headmaster about something while comforting Neville, who sports blood upon his robes. He kind of recalls both Neville and him answering questions, particularly about what came out of the dead teacher's body and how it was driven off, although he doesn't know if he ever mentioned that he created that little box or that he stunned the defense professor...

All he became aware of was finding himself in the medical wing with Hermione to his left and Neville to his right. It also seems to be morning. He sits up and glances around in confusion before he recalls what happened and manages to vomit upon the floor instead upon the bed.

"Harry?" He hears Moony asks and he glances up to find his uncle sitting upon a chair at the end of his bed. He flushes while Moony smiles a sad knowing smile. It didn't take long before his uncle vanishes the vomit.

"Have some chocolate, Harry." Moony says, taking out what appears to be a box of M&Ms. "Thank you." He says in a raspy voice and he can still taste the vomit. Wordlessly, his uncle also motions to the water pitcher resting next to his bed.

He pours himself a glass of water and drinks it, it helps wash away the foul taste. "How is Ex... Professor Snape." He asks after eating three handfuls of the chocolate pieces.

"Going as well as to be expected. We managed to recover his arms and they're working to reconnect it. He won't be able to teach for a real long time but I'm sure that the student body will be happy to have a different teacher pick up the class." Uncle Moony says and then asks, "Ex?"

"Short for Ex-Corpse Eater." He admits shyly and his uncle chuckles softly, not wanting to wake the other two. "Why is Hermione here?" He asks after finishing the M&Ms. "She wasn't with us when we..." His jaw clutches down as the urge to vomit returns.

"The troll wasn't in the dungeon." His uncle sums up and he decides not to push it. "Why didn't Dumblies follow regulations? We weren't meant to leave the Great Hall. We were safer staying put behind its doors then not." He asks and his uncle's eyes flash.

"Really? Where did you learn that?" Moony asks and he answers, "It's in Hogwarts Emergency Protocols manual. You can find it on the same shelf as the book listing point earning of the current and previous years, the detention book, and on the thin book that contains the charter and the primary rules that the school was founded on. There's another book there detailing the state of Hogwarts wards but it's charmed locked so you can't read it."

"Are you sure you were sorted correctly? It sounds as though Ravenclaw would have suited you more." Uncle Moony muses with a smile and he snorts, before frowning as he realized that he didn't get a suitable answer concerning Hermione.

"I wanted to know what to expect during an emergency. I pointed Cold to said books too." He explains. "And what do you mean the troll wasn't in the dungeon? If it weren't, then why aren't there more students injured from the troll?" He asks.

"Hermione didn't attend the feast. It seems that some of your house-mates drove her to lock herself in the girls bathroom." Moony explains and he just ohs.

"I didn't know. I thought she was late because she was in the library. She does spends a lot of time in there and following Cold." He tells his uncle before adding, "She's a tab of a stickler for the rules and doesn't seem to know how to 'play' with others."

He hears Hermione roll over, confirming that she has been awake likely from the very beginning. He glances over to stare at her back for a few seconds. "At least you didn't see..." He couldn't finish it as what happened last night suddenly gets replayed within his mind. He swallows hard as he glances down at his hands, he knew logically that it was a good thing that the defense professor wasn't alive to be possessed by that wraith but it doesn't change the fact that he is the reason the man was dead and another maimed.

"What is hidden on that floor? Why is it there, Moony, in this school?" He finally asks after he hears Neville begin to wake.

"We don't know. The headmaster is being very tight lip about it." His uncle admits.

"Then involve the ICW! Whatever it is, it cause that stupid wraith to possess that teacher, thus endangering us, the students!" He exclaims, his self-pity turning into out rage at the idea that Dumblies was playing some game. One that had caused Neville and him to witness what they did last night.

"Dumblies is suppose to put our safety before all else! He didn't and because of that, somebody was killed, another crippled, and students traumatized!" He says and Moony nods in agreement.

"Sadly, Dumblies, as you call him, has a lot of political clot. He will likely receive a slap upon the wrists and only coming out a tiny bit tarnished." Moony explains and he knew his uncle was right.

"But the board of directors!" Hermione butts in and Neville softly snorts. "Shouldn't they be able to do something?" The muggle raised witch asks.

"I really don't want to think of who they would replace. There are ex-Corpse Eaters upon the board after all. Better the devil you know then the devil you don't." He informs Hermione firmly and the girl gives Moony a pleading look, begging for his uncle to say that wasn't so.

"For somebody who skips out on our political studies, you're very well informed." His uncle muses and he replies, "Cold doesn't put locking charms on his drawers. So it's not that hard to read through his notes and homework."

He glances over to find Hermione very pale and clearly ill looking. "But... this is Hogwarts! It's suppose to be..." Hermione trails off, it looks as though she's about to cry.

"Authority figures in the Wizarding world aren't like those in the muggle one, Ms Granger. They have no incentive to fix the corruption that rewarded them with their high ranking positions." His uncle explains in an apologetic tone. "The Wizengamot seats are typically inherit and has a lot to do concerning the selection of the Minster of Magic."

"This body is made up of pure-bloods I take it?" Hermione asks and he nods while Moony says, "Yes it is."

"But... but... but!" Hermione stutter out and he sighs. He really hated to break it to her but she really needs to hear it, if only to begin looking into researching this herself if only to provide him wrong.

"Whatever picture the professor painted for you and your family... It won't happen, Hermione. The pure-bloods are in decline so Hogwarts has become dependent upon muggle raised wizards and witches getting enrolled here. It's to the point where all promising muggled raised graduates automatically leave the UK, leave Europe all together, to get promising jobs. Only those marrying into old families can expect to raise up from the typical jobs the muggle raised are forced into." He tells her.

"Like your mother." Hermione states as an example and he nods. "But that's discrimination!"

"Our world is filled with it." Neville replies. "And it'll remain like that until it breaks under it."

"You make it sound as if the Wizarding world is dying!" Hermione exclaims and he grins. "Here in the UK? Most definitely." Neville says with a sigh.

"Then why isn't anyone doing anything?" Hermione asks and Moony replies, "Because most wizards and witches prefer to do what's easy instead of what's right."

Silence hangs in the room until the doors open and the rest of his family, with the exception of Colin, comes to visit him and Neville. Hermione returns to laying down upon the bed, more then likely brooding over what she has heard.

- [ T ] -

"How did I get involve in this again?" Hermione wonders as they walk on top of the snow. He managed to convince his two uncles to part, temporarily, with their ice skimmers so that Neville and Hermione can join him on finding the cave in which the Acromantula spend the winter in.

"Cause you followed Neville, who was following my brother." Colin explains. He really didn't know how Colin discovered his plans but it seems that for once, Colin wasn't going to ruin them by telling an adult.

"And we're..." "Here to..." "Supervise!" The Weasley twins say while riding upon brooms.

"I thought it was because of the money you can get from helping to harvest Acromantula venom." Neville pipes in, his best friend is carrying two wooden spears, each tipped with flint and covered in Acromantula killing runes. Hermione carries another while Cold has his spare bow and quiver of Acromantula killing arrows. The older twins didn't bring anything other then larger packs, their own empty vials, wands, and the brooms.

"Hey look! Unicorns!" He says as he pauses to watch as a small family unit walk through the meadow to his far right. They seemingly appearing out of nowhere and doesn't seem to mind the party of students trailing through the forest. The others pause to watch the herd, he hears Hermione sighing at the sight.

They resume trekking through the forest, he uses his wand to help locate the nest. It was around noon did they finally locate a cave entrance. He touches the block to find that the webbing is firm, very firm.

"Trap door spiders do something similar." Hermione says and he nods while studying the 'cork'. "What now?" The only witch in the party asks.

"We burn a good size hole into it. It should be made up of webbing, branches, and leaves." He muses. "Forge, Gred? You think you can handle this?" He asks the twins hovering over the snow covered ground.

"But of course!" The two say at the same time. He moves back to give the pair more room. Within seconds a good size hole is made and he takes out a few muggle flares, breaking them before tossing them into the hole.

He doesn't hear anything from within the cave in regards to the flares. He moves forward after readying his bow and an arrow. His ice skimmers clicking upon the rocky floor after he drops about four feet down from the hole.

"Don't see any." He says to the group as he rummages through his pack for one of those hovering Fae lights, a spare from when he was setting up his yurt. The fist size crystal slowly comes to life as the rest of the party enters into the cave.

Once fully lit, the Fae light takes to hovering above his head. "Fae light. Flare gave me a few extra ones when he gifted that yurt to me." He explains on seeing the others looks towards the light.

"I didn't know he could fashion them." Colin muses and he gives his twin a bemused grin. "You'd be surprise at what Flare can do."

"Who's Flare?" Hermione asks and Neville replies, "Flare is the house elf the Potters hired a few weeks after what happened that one Halloween. I think muggles call them Brownies."

He takes point and glances at the Weasley twins. "Just stay on those brooms, gentlemen. Carrying those brooms will only cause you to be clumsy." He informs them and they get back onto the brooms.

They slowly walk through the cave, Neville and Colin walk a bit behind him and to either side of him, causing a V like formation to form. They come upon a chasm that seems to feature a firm dome of webbing. It takes him a few seconds to realize that there were Acromantula upon the dome.

"We need to build a blind so that when they swarm, they don't get us from above or from the sides." He says after considering the best way to handle this. "They haven't been hibernating long so they would be easy to wake as soon as an alarm rings out." He adds.

"You act like this is an everyday occurrence for you." Hermione says dryly and he replies, "No, I've just been reading hunters journals, be they muggle or otherwise."

He takes out a box and after setting it down, taps his wand to activate the enlarging charms. Within seconds, it has become glued to one side of the wall and expands a good ten feet wide and six feet in height. There are arrow slits along the sides and the runes of shielding slowly begin to glow as he touches the blind.

It takes a few seconds before a door opens to allow them in. "Sweet!" The Weasley twins sum up as they enter. Once everyone else was in it, he enters it and the door closes behind him.

He waits as everyone gets as comfortable as they can, Neville offering his second spear to one of the twins, Fred he believes. "I didn't know you were profound with runes." Colin muses and he shrugs.

"Why else do you think I don't require glasses like you do?" He points out and Colin looks startled. He holds up his left wrist that has all of his enchanted leather bracelets upon it. "Created a scheme to correct it. I even made one to improve your night vision, although it does cause your eyes to be a little too light sensitive though."

"Wick!" "Impressive." Seems to be the general census.

"We're so going to have a long talk about what other innovations you've created, brother." Colin says as he takes a position at the front.

"Just as long as we have it outside of Hogwarts, I'll be happy to have it. I also have a few extra mind protecting bracelets that I should give you guys before we're done with this adventure." He says before adding, "And no taking them apart to discover the rune schematic either." He directs this towards the twins.

"Wouldn't..." "Dream..." "Of it!" The two red heads say with grins. He just sighs and watches as the others take up positions, although George doesn't really have anything other then his wand to use as a weapon.

He aims high and watches as the arrow soars towards the middle of the massive collection of spiders. A screech is heard and its followed by clicking and hissing. As predicted, the mass of spiders wake and begin to swarm all over the place, looking for the source of the arrow.

He fires three arrows at three massive draft horse size spiders, they died with a screech. He figured that its their size that has allowed them to make death knells. It wasn't long before the blind is covered in spiders and the others get their chance to kill the Acromantula.

They spent hours within the protective box with only spider blood being able to enter into the box through the arrow slits. The spiders do try and move the box but it's firmly planted in the ground and to the wall. Death threats also stream from the spiders and he even gets a chance to kill the likely father of all of the spiders.

During brief pauses, he would use his wand to check and see if there were still Acromantula. It wasn't until close to midnight that there wasn't a living one within the space beyond the blind. They nap a bit for a few hours before leaving the box.

"This is going to take a while." He muses as he glances around the thick lay of dead spiders. None of the others argued and thus, they started upon their gruesome task of gathering venom and gathering their silk from their spinnerets.

He doubts they killed the whole population of these magical spiders, just culled the larger, more aggressive members of the colony. It'll take a few years before they are exterminated. Still can't believe Hagrid was allowed to let loose the first pair of Acromantula in this forest, especially so close to the only totally wizard town in the UK.

He's thankful for the general anti-poison potions they brought with them as more then a few other ended up getting nicked and having some venom entering into their systems. But then, what could he expect? They were all worn out from having so much adrenaline pumping through them for over ten hours, thus they weren't as careful as they could be since their arms would sometimes shake or their fingers cram up on them.

- [ T ] -

"I need to give you a nickname." He informs Hermione as they wait for the train to arrive to take them home. They were fairly much alone since his elder brother is currently in the middle of his fans, Neville is talking 'shop' with some Hufflepuffs about plants, and the twins weren't here since their parents and sister left to visit their brother Charlie, the dragon handler.

"I'm not getting a say in this, do I?" The girl asks and he snorts. "Thought so." Hermione sighs.

"Hmmm, Wei got a ring to it. Then again so does Farsiris." He says, grinning as Hermione flushes. "But you're as fiery enough to go by Kaida but then with the spiders... Kainda would be so much more descriptive."

"Kyden." He decides after a few minutes. "It follows my own nickname since both of our names start with H. It means Narrow little fire, which fits since you can be so narrow minded and very passionate too."

"Do this means for friends whom's names begin with C you'll be sticking to C nicknames and for M you'll be looking for nicknames beginning with L." Hermione sums up and he shrugs. The train whistles loudly and suddenly out of the snow storm, the train can be seen as it comes down the track.

"My lade?" He says with a wide smirk as he waves Hermione forward. Hermione huffs softly, he couldn't see her face cause of the scarf but he's certain that she's blushing slightly as she moves to step up onto the steps.

I wonder what her reaction will be when she discovers that for her Christmas gift, I set up an Inheritance test? He wonders, his mother had gone through one when he was seven and it turned out have a great-grandmother who was a Squib from an half-blood family who was killed during the 70s.

Which means that his mother brought in a reasonable size vault to be added to the Potter fortune, no property since that had been liquidated by the Ministry. He's not sure why his mom even went through with the test but he's sure she had her reasons, even if she hasn't revealed them.

- [ T ] -

"How did you time in that room go?" Colin asks him as he walks into their shared hotel room. He sighs as he flops down upon his bed after walking to it.

"Tiring." He replies and Colin sighs. "But I won the trust of two. Managed to get my head to fully transform before I left the room. It's not your four, but I'm satisfied with them."

"Must be some two." His brother muses and he gives his brother a wide grin. "They are, oh boy, they are." He tells his brother.

"Better then a jackal or a owl or a seal or even a snow leopard?" Colin asks and he props himself up upon his elbows. He studies his brother for a few seconds.

"How does a hyena and one of the North American breeds of dimar(search DeviantArt for images) sound?" He asks his brother and Colin's eyes bug out when he mentioned the dimar then the hyena. "Not bad, eh? One normal form with the second being a magical one."

"How big a dimar? A Central? Or an East Coast?" Colin asks, listing the two of the smaller types of Northern dimar,they stand about a foot at the shoulder and is two feet from the tip of the muzzle to the butt.

"West Coast one." He says, the West Coast type dimars stood three and half foot to the shoulder and length of five foot long to the base of the butt instead of the tail tip. The dimars could be considered fuzzy dragons of the muggle type since they had six limbs, two were wings and the other four are legs.

Dimars were an odd intelligent, naturally telepathic species that can also learn to speak human languages. They also rarely interact with humans, thus they don't really know much about the race as a whole. The dimar species range all over the Americas with the Northern breeds sporting fur all year round and the Southern breeds lose their fur during certain parts of the year and growing scales for that part of the year. The mountain regions of the Americas sport dimar that stand at least six feet at the shoulder and eleven feet to the butt.

"You get all the luck." Colin summarizes and he sighs. "You have four forms that you can show off, I only got one that can be publicly shown. You have a wider selection to chose your 'official' Animagus form from, I don't. I have to go with the hyena." He points out and his brother just rolls his eyes.

"I'm going with the owl." Colin admits. "But still, a dimar? Those creatures are just so interest! Nobody knows why they have those second 'wings' so close to their butts. Or why they're color is so diverse even within their typical breed! Their horn styles, some having those branches while others sport slender twisting horns or ram ones..." His brother tries off and he sighs, recalling what that 'spirit' dimar had said.

"We have been watching you since your birthday. We witness your ability to keep secrets, watched as you prove your ability to do what's needed instead of freezing up or begin to study the situation and see how you can benefit from it. You proved your ability to still empathize with others even when you yourself weren't emotionally well." The dimar tells him. "We have need of an ambassador in the coming times."

He looks away from his brother, he didn't really know what to feel concerning that bit of information as it pretty much told him that all of his attempts to slip pass the detection of others has failed. He considers himself to be a very private individual, after all, and is very selective about who he lets close to him, although sometimes, those people just insert themselves there.

He trusts Neville more then he trusts Colin, but then, it's likely because people overlook his friend most of the time, not bothering to look beyond the timid demeanor and flimsy spell casting. He contributes Neville's shyness and general nervousness towards people from his family continuously outrageous attempts at bring out his friend's magic. Their actions screamed 'better dead then a Squib!'

Next, he trusted his brother a tad more then he trusted Hermione since Hermione is still new and is still struggling over her need of approval from people in authority. The girl is socially awkward, but then, her book smarts likely, at first, drove kids away and in time, her growing authoritativeness, commonly known as bossiness, drove them further away. And so the cycle developed, without friends to hang out with, Hermione spent more time reading books and the knowledge learned from those books drove a wedge between Hermione and kids her age, and repeat. In the end, Hermione wasn't a genius, just very well read.

The Weasley twins... Well, he's known them, again, longer then Hermione, but they had a tendency to use everything they know to create pranks. They have a flare for it, he admits, and he could see why they would want to go into business selling said prank items too. He just didn't want the stuff he developed to fall into hands of strangers and he's sure that will happen if he shares his research notes with the older set of twins.

So Hermione and the twins were, for now, equal concerning the trust he plans to give them.

I wonder where I would place Flare? He wonders as he allows himself to rest upon his bed, upon his back, staring up at the ceiling.

- [ T ] -

"I don't see why anyone even tries to study for their OWLs and their NEWTs." He says to Neville while skipping flat stones across the flat surface of the lake. "Both Cold and I could take them now and pass fairly well." He muses.

"Why don't you?" Neville asks as their stones finally sink into the lake. "I know you'd ace your rune tests." Neville adds.

"Dad and mom seem to be of the opinion that we're safer being minors. For now, anyway." He explains. "No that they don't have the paperwork done up for us to become adults if anything happens to them and our uncles."

"How safely put away are these papers?" Neville asks and he replies, "Well, let's just say that Cold and I are citizens of Canada, the US, Mexico, Japan, and for some odd reason, Ireland. Although Cold is pretty much an honorary citizens of the rest of the countries in the world. It's amazing how popular he is outside of the UK. It's likely one of the reasons we've been able to purchase various items and travel so much."

"Just how many languages do you speak?" Neville asks as they set sailing another stone each. "Far too many." He answers. "I read more languages then what I speak though, Cold's the same." He adds.

Neville whistles, clearly impressed. He didn't see why, those language bundles were damn expensive and causes massive headaches. It's amazing what the rest of the world uses magic for, it's one of the reasons he kind of hopes that his parents will pull them out of school. The UK and Europe at large were like country bums compared to the magical communities of technological magics of Japan and magic empowered floating cities of New Zealand.

He wonders which of the other countries will be the first to colonize the Moon and Mars through magic. "There are extra-ordinary wonders beyond Europe, Leander. Magic is used in different ways then what they teach here at Hogwarts and at its sister schools." He says. "There are people out there more powerful then Dumblies who's minds are sharper, more brilliant in though their age is over the upper-levels you find in the UK. There are times when I wonder why we keep returning to Britain after vacationing in those countries. Seems so wasteful since most of what we bring back would likely be blacklisted simply because they haven't been 'tested' here in the UK and in Europe."

"How come vacationing families or wandering wizards don't report such things?" Neville asks and he snorts as he gets ready to throw another stone.

"They don't have any respect for European magi, Leander since they won't get pass the Victorian era and seem so happy to mucking around in their ignorance." He explains. "And it's not as though European magi are expecting anything but a similar state of what they got at home. The other countries set aside certain place for European magi to visit, shepherding them to keep them from visiting the real hot spots of their country and what they're really capable of. It was a major hassle for our parents and uncles to earn the trust of one of those countries." He continues.

"But earn the trust of one and you, get trail runs in the others." He adds. "Get minimum of four countries to vouch for you and you get a really nifty passport and the option of becoming a citizen so you have a place for political refuge if things don't work out too well back home." He says.

"Sounds like a lot of work, Kanga." Neville remarks and he smiles a bit. "You don't give trust, Leander, you earn it." He informs his friend.

"You must trust me a great deal then." Neville admits and he flashes his best friend a smile. "I do, I really do. You're a great guy, it's just that nobody is willing to look pass your timidness or your apparent clumsiness to find that out." He says.

"You're a great guy too, Kanga." Neville offers with a slightly flushed face. He hums thoughtfully.

"I wonder what our coming summer will bring..." He muses after they run out of stone and begin to transfigure tiny pebbles into appropriate skipping stones.

"Only time will tell, Kanga. Only time will tell."

End of First Year - End of the Story. . . Don't Know

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Check out The Lost Waters By Dee Dreslough for more information concerning Dimar.

Second Year

Random Story # 31
Random Story # 33