Hogwarts: Era of Darkness

Quincy was doing her homework in our private classroom, writing an essay for our next charms lesson. I was not really in the mood to do the work for that crazy woman's class, especially as I still had two days before our next meeting would take place. I can finish it later. Although… maybe I should get it done… but… not now! Now, I was completely immersed in the book that I borrowed from her with the satisfaction of knowing the one who would get into trouble was going to be Professor Lockhart and not me. The Many creatures in it were ones I had never read about and sounded extremely dangerous. The only one I was familiar with was the dementors, now roaming the world, usually cleaning up witnesses from the muggle world and eliminating mud-blood witches and wizards who started casting spells again despite them being banned from it. My attention was quickly drawn to the rest of the specimens in the book; Graphorns, Nundus, Kelpie, Chimaeras, Wampuses, and so on. Flipping through, watching the life-like, moving pictures, it was like reading a really good horror story.

"Horrible…" I heard Quincy whispering next to my ear and looking up; she was sitting beside me, leaning close, watching the Acromantulas crawl from one end of the page to the other, climbing over and behind the text.

"Yeah, I also hate anything that has more than four legs." I agreed, flipping the page. "But it is a great book! I already got myself an idea!"

"Idea of what?" She asked, watching me with one of her eyebrows raised high. "Want to go into the Forbidden Forest and capture one of them? Good luck with that! I won't stop you if you want to end up as a midnight snack for a monster!"

"Ahaha, no! For one, I don't think any of these beasts would live there! So close to the school? No chance, not with the magic that surrounds the castle and its grounds!"

"Then?"

"I am not planning on getting one of them for real, but I could maybe look up if I could get the effects of one of them!"

"Their… effects? What do you mean?"

"Here!" I reopened the book, flipping to the end of it, where a huge snake was slithering around the edge of the pages, its yellowish eyes glowing in a strange light. Touching the page felt like running my fingers over cold, hard stone, but the moment I blinked my eyes, the feeling was gone, and everything returned to normal.

"A basilisk?" She read the title and the description of not just how they are born but their weaknesses and their powers.

"I am speaking about their eye powers."

"Petrification?" She murmured, reading on, and as she did, she came to an understanding of my fascination as she looked up at me, "They can kill ghosts?"

"Kinda." I grinned, "They can stun them and turn them into 'statues,' going by the book's description! I bet if Peeves looks into its eyes, he would be the one ending up at the end of a nasty prank! I don't know if it would kill him… as he is not even alive."

"Maybe." She said softly, leaning back to her side, thinking, "But where would you even get a basilisk? I bet it is not something that you just go and buy off from a shelf!"

"No, I also don't think so. But I can buy a chicken egg and a toad!"

"You want to hatch one?" She laughed, watching me with her brown eyes, scanning my body from head to toe.

"Why not?" I pouted softly, feeling a bit insulted and looked down upon.

"When did you ever hear a toad hatching an egg?" She asked, almost laughing. "I bet you need more than those two and just putting them into a box! Things that we are not told about here or everyone would breed snakes that can turn anyone into stone with their gaze!"

“Well… yeah but…” I tried to refute her but couldn't. As hard as it was to admit it, especially the way she was laughing, she was right. There has to be something extra to it. "Look, I don't need a real basilisk!"

"Of course you don't!" She continued to laugh, "You wouldn't be able to control it at all anyway! You would be its first meal!"

"..."

"A basilisk… yeah… right!"

"So this is the real you?" I asked, sighing but holding a small smile, seeing her freeze for a moment, looking at me, trying to say something while turning bright red. "Relax, I am not angry! Haaah…! You are right, I don't know how to control one, and I would probably turn to stone first! What I am trying to say is I want the powers in its eyes! If not a basilisk eye, then I should learn a spell that can do the same!"

"Is there even a spell like that?" She asked, after thinking for a little, looking a bit flustered.

"If not, we can make it!"

"Yeah, sure!" She rolled her eyes, taking a deep breath, "Two first-year students, who only know a few spells, develop one that can petrify ghosts! What? Next time you tell me that you can cast Avada Kedavra?"

"Well, no… I can't. The incantation is not enough to learn that spell. Khm… Don't be so negative! We can experiment as we learn things! It will be fun! Where is your drive to learn new things?!"

"Well… it does sound fun to research something like that… but we need to be realistic about it!"

"Okay, that is a valid point." I agreed. Still, my mind was already thinking that I should really visit the library tomorrow afternoon and borrow as many spellbooks as I could. "I will think more about it, and when I have something concrete, I'll tell you!"

"Sure." She nodded, looking a bit excited herself.

In the end, after dinner, I occupied myself in our common room, doing homework and ignoring the hubbub around us. I noticed that back here, Quincy became much more reserved and quieter, trying to look as bland as possible so nobody would pay her any attention. I also noticed that I received a few weird gazes and whispers when we came in. Not that it really bothered me. When it was late and I headed back to my room, Draco was there, copying his homework from someone else's paper.

"I warned you." He said, not even looking up at me.

"About?"

"The girl." He said with a chortle. "A few more chivalrous moves like today, and you will end up just like her."

"Is that a threat, Lord Malfoy?"

"Hmph…" He snorted, looking at me with a smirk, "I am not bothering you out of courtesy for what you did. I am a noble; those things are below me."

"Yeah… sure," I added in my head, fighting my instincts really hard to not roll my eyes at him.

"But you do you; I am just warning you! Your father's position won't matter then!"

"Says you?"

"Is your tongue always that poisonous, or is it because of your family's crest, Viper-boy?" Draco snorted, getting riled up pretty quickly.

"Probably both. Look, I am not about to bother anyone as long as I am left alone. If you want to become the leader of our class, go for it. I will support you!" I sighed, raising my hands, "I couldn't care less."

"At least you know your place!" He smiled again, his frown easing out just as quickly as it formed before. It was such an easy job to placate his ego and feelings; I almost laughed at him right into his face.

"Yeah, I do. And it is in my bed right now!" I added with a yawn, walking to my bed, closing the curtains, and leaving the noise outside while I slipped into my pajamas and then into a wild dream where I was, once again… chased by a huge snake.

…
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……

I don't know if it was because of what happened in my first charms class, but in the following days, I was having the same horrible dream again and again, being chased by a huge snake, waking up just before it could bite into me. Luckily, my curtains kept my possible shouts and tusslings hidden, not to mention my sweaty and disheveled looks after waking up. Only once was it this bad. It happened a few years ago when I had the exact same dream constantly for a week straight. My father said it was nothing to worry about; it was just my blood acting up. I never learned what that meant as he refused to elaborate on it.

I wasn't to go and ask questions about it, not after I was already looked weirdly upon for being friendly to Quincy. I didn't need to add something to my weird list that could spread amongst the other students. Luckily, nobody noticed anything weird. I was good at hiding it, and we were more focused on our studies anyway.

For example, there were the transfiguration lessons with that creepy, weird-looking man-rat. It was interesting, but it won't be my favorite. Especially when he transforms into a rat and scurries around us, checking our progress with the spells we were learning. He especially loves to rub up against the girls who want to scream but has to hold it back. Being rude to a teacher is not looked favorably at Hogwarts.

The other classes turned out to be interesting, too, but not as much as the Dark Arts lessons. Herbology was fun, I guess. Kinda. It is greatly connected to potion making, and it turned out that Quincy also had a knack for it. This is nice because, to me, most plants' parts are indistinguishable. It is nice to know I could lean on her if I need help with my homework, and in exchange, I can train her in our dark arts lessons. Astronomy, just like our history lessons, won't be my favorite. At all. It was boring and held at night, which could get pretty chilly even with the warm autumn we are having now. What made up for it fully was our flying lessons. I was already experienced with it, having my own broom back home, so it was a breeze to get through it. I mostly helped Quincy, who never rode one before, but she was a quick learner, and we were flying rounds around the training field.

While I was doing so, I saw Draco provoke one of the Ravenclaw students, that, in the end, broke out in a chase around the castle. I was expecting him to get into trouble, but in the end, he ended up recruited into the Quidditch team… weird. No punishments for him, I assume? Huh.

"Jealous?" Quincy asked, seeing my face as I was watching Draco flaunt his achievement to be the first, First-year student to get into the team after… well, centuries. We were sitting at the dinner table in the Great Hall that Friday, just about to enjoy our first relaxing weekend.

"Not really," I answered honestly, turning back towards my toast and sausage.

"You don't like Quidditch?"

"I do. But I wouldn't want to play it. I am more into broom racing. On the one hand, Quidditch needs constant practice. That is time away from studying magic." Especially now that I had managed to borrow a dozen spellbooks that waited for me in my dorm room. "On the other hand, it is a team sport. I am not good with that."

"Hm? Why?" She asked, looking interested.

"When we got five people, it is much easier to fail. Just one weak link, and the whole thing crumbles. I don't like placing my success into others' hands!"

"Seeesh…" She rolled her eyes, "You can be such an infuriating douche sometimes!"

"Am I? Really?" I asked back, looking at her with surprise. "I just like to know if I failed, I did because of myself. Not because someone else was inadequate."

"Well, sorry!" She grumbled, looking away, starting to eat faster and ignoring me completely.

"I wasn't talking about you," I said after thinking a little about why she was so angry all of a sudden.

"Hmph…!" But she simply finished her dinner, stood up, and left, and I knew she won't speak to me again, maybe until Monday.

"Girls…" I murmured, continuing my dinner. Were all of them like this? If so… I am afraid of what will happen when Father expects me to get married…