F&L: Chapter 67

The First part of November continued much in the same way that a lot of October and September had, though there was one difference, that being the Petrification of a Third Year Gryffindor and Third Year Ravenclaw, Cormac McLaggen and Marietta Edgecombe, respectively. Both were Halfbloods, meaning the theory that was somehow still going about that the Basilisk was being directed solely at Muggleborns was starting to die down. I'm not sure how people could have gotten that when the very first victim, Luna Lovegood, was a Pureblood. Still, I suppose in the eyes of certain people, Luna was the wrong kind of Pureblood. However, both Marietta and Cormac had Pureblood Fathers with good positions in the Ministry, meaning the sort of mental gymnastics one had to do to exclude Luna from the theory couldn't be done here.

Regardless, things were beginning to pick up after the lull they had been in after the Basilisk had Petrified its second victim, Lisa Turpin. Even so, however, I continued my studies and training, hoping to be able to deal with either the Basilisk or Lockhart soon. Thankfully, Magnus Gamp seemed to understand the need for intensive training and really put me through my paces, finishing out the third year curriculum for both Potions and Charms. It turned out, thanks to my extracurricular activities, I was literally only missing two of the potions in the curriculum, Shrinking Solution and the Confusing Concoction, while only one of the lectures, how to make undetectable poisons, was unknown to me. We covered those in the first week of November and could move on to charms.

Here, I was only missing Lumos Maxima and the Cheering Charm, both of which we covered in one day of the second week of November. The first was a modification of the Lumos, with the incantation of Lumos Maxima and the wand movement of one flick, followed by a drawing back of the wand, followed lastly by a second flick. The second had an incantation of Ridens Plaudits and a wand motion of a smiling mouth drawn in the air at the target. The former would create a bright, blinding light that could banish magical darkness, blind opponents, and even render certain nocturnal beasts and beings stunned for a few crucial moments. The latter, meanwhile, could elicit elation and cheer in people, even managing to incapacitate opponents with laughter if done properly.

Just to round out that last day of third-year charms, Magnus Gamp also taught me the counter-spells for both Lumos Maxima and the Cheering Charm. These were Nox Maxima, a modification of the Nox spell for creating Darkness, which flicked your wand toward a light source, then pulled it back as if reeling in a fish, and had the incantation of Nox Maxima. It would counter Lumos Maxima and create magical darkness that a simple Lumos or any of the colored sparks spells could not penetrate. The second was the Depression Curse, with an incantation of Tristitia, and a wand motion of a downward slash aimed at the target's head, as if you were attempting to cut open their face with a blade. It would counter the Cheering Charm and induce a state of sadness in the target, even to the point of uncontrollably weeping if overpowered.

"Be warned, Lad, both the Cheering Charm and Depression Curse can be thrown off by one with the sort of grounding in the Mind Arts that you have. Neither are foolproof methods for ending fights." Cautioned Magnus Gamp.

"Good to know." I responded.

"Indeed. Now, though, I think you're ready for extracurricular subjects. We'll start with Necromancy, the White Kind, obviously." Intoned Magnus Gamp.

"All right, you're gonna teach me how to destroy undead?" I questioned.

"It's more than just that, Lad. A Master of White Necromancy knows how to do that, sure, but he also knows how to heal the living, protect the dead from being raised as undead, and counter necromantic curses. Then there are a few necromantic spells that are neither considered black nor white." Explained Magnus Gamp.

"Oh? Like what?" I queried.

"Would it surprise you to know that both the Stunning Spell and the Counter-charm to the Stunning Spell are Necromantic Spells?" Asked Magnus Gamp.

"They are?" I questioned.

"Indeed. Both are outgrowths of the earlier Fatigue Curse pioneered by Epimathus of Athens in three hundred BC. Necromancy." Intoned Magnus Gamp.

"And you'll teach me them?" I queried.

"When you're ready. First, however, I need to teach you the Basics." Intoned Magnus Gamp.

"Which are?" I asked.

"The Spells of Deathsight, the Fatiguing Touch Hex, the Episkey Spell, the Ectoplasmic Disruption Charm, and the Organ Preservation Charm. I already taught you the Disruption Charm as part of the Unit on Skeletal Undead." Intoned Magnus Gamp.

"I already know Episkey." I informed.

"You do, do you?" Questioned Magnus Gamp.

"I do. I learned it last year as an extracurricular thing." I confirmed.

"You know, Lad, with all the time you spend training and learning, one might be tempted to think you've got no hobbies." Mused Magnus Gamp.

"I have hobbies. I've been learning to play the Guitar." I insisted.

"As part of your studies into Bardic Magic. Do you do anything for the sheer fun of it, Lad?" Queried Magnus Gamp.

"I like Tarocco Siciliano." I muttered.

"Card games, especially gambling ones like that, aren't the best of Hobbies for a young lad." Pointed out Magnus Gamp.

"A Hobby is a Hobby. Can we just crack on with it and stop interrogating how I live my life, please?" I asked.

"Fair enough. Let's get going." Agreed Magnus Gamp.

"Right, I want to learn as much as I can." I affirmed.

"Well, if you can get these down by the end of the month, we'll move on to the basics of Spiritualism in December. Once you have those down, we'll shift topics again. More Runes, Arithmancy, Alchemy, and Enchantment, I think." Laid out Magnus Gamp.

And with that, I began my studies in the basics of Necromancy. The Spell of Deathsight was exactly what it sounded like. It lets you not only gauge the health of anyone in the vicinity, but also detect any nearby undead. It had the wand motion of a crossed X in front of your face and the incantation of Visem Mortum. That one was easy enough to get down, as was the Ectoplasmic Disruption Charm, which did the same thing that the regular disruption charm did, but for Incorporeal Undead, like Wraiths and Spectres, both of which Ghosts could turn into with enough built-up malice. Hell, the Bloody Baron was apparently close enough to doing so that it was probably going to happen at some point during my stay at Hogwarts. It had the Incantation of Phantasma Perturbare and the wand motion of a crossed X, followed by a flick of the wand toward the Spectre or Wraith in question.

Ironically, it was the others that I had a difficult time with. The Fatiguing Touch Hex was one of Epimathus of Athens' original fatiguing spells. It definitely showed why the Stunning Spell and its counter-charm in the Revival Spell were both considered to be Fifth Year Material. If this was the sort of spell that they had both grown out of, I could see the reason. It had the incantation of Koposi Hapto, in keeping with the Ancient Greek Origins, and the wand motion was awkward as Hell, largely because it had to be reverse-engineered from the original staff movements. Just getting it down took a few days, though, by comparison, the week it took me to get the Organ Preservation Charm down was much worse. This was largely because of the origins of the Organ Preservation Charm.

This, it turned out, was something that Gringotts Curse-Breakers had pulled out of and reverse-engineered from an Ancient Egyptian Tomb, that of Hori, the High Priest of Osiris during the reign of Ramesses the Second of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Ancient Egypt. The Wand Motion was even more awkward, and the Incantation was in Ancient Egyptian, which meant I had a Hell of a time learning both. Ultimately, it would wind up taking me until the twenty-second to learn it all, though in the end, I had to cheat on the Ancient Egyptian Incantation with Xenoglossy and Pob Laith to get the Organ Preservation Charm to work. Apparently, the Necromancers of Ancient Egypt would weave these spells into Canopic Jars as Enchantments, but ever since the rediscovery and reverse-engineering of the spell, it had been the go-to spell for preserving Certain Magical Beast Parts by Wizarding Hunters for later use in potions or enchantments.

Regardless of the time it had taken me to learn such simple spells, Magnus Gamp seemed impressed, and we would start on Spiritualism next month. In the meantime, we would begin sparring more, which wasn't to say we weren't sparring plenty already, but with a Basilisk on the Loose, it was probably a good idea to up my Combat Training as much as we could, which equalled having my arse kicked across the Hogwarts Training Field on a far more regular basis, it seemed. I was getting better at this, of course, but it was difficult to measure when my primary sparring partner was just that much better at this than I was.

Still, training with Magnus Gamp was far from my only thing to take care of. I still had regular classes and my own training to deal with, plus clubs and hanging out with my friends. It was a busy schedule, and not one made better by the fact that there were two separate threats to handle here in Lockhart and the Basilisk. Regardless, there wasn't a whole lot I could do about the situation, but keep on keeping on and hope I was ready when the time came to finally deal with one or the other.

For now, though, it was time to prepare for that confrontation, starting with Herbology Class. . .

XXXX

Herbology Class for much of November was fairly tame. I was part of the group of students that had been pressed into helping to take care of the Mandrakes that had been planted, which would count toward my Herbology Scores. This was largely based on a skills test I had taken on the first day of November that showed I knew enough about Abyssinian Shrivelfigs to skip the first week of Herbology Class for November. I was here with Neville, Hermione, and Susan, the first two of whom were predictable, but the last of whom wasn't. For some reason, Susan had never jumped out at me as especially good at Herbology, even though I had largely been partnered with her this whole time.

Regardless, we each gained twenty house points for our participation, which translated to ten Silver Points in the Slytherin Rating System. That was a necessity, as from the twenty-fourth to the ninth of December, I largely had the Slytherin Ritual Chamber booked up for a bunch of Rituals I was planning to do, along with a bunch of my friends. As we worked with the Mandrakes, watering and feeding them, that was largely what we talked about when we didn't need to put our full attention on the Mandrakes themselves.

"So, remind me again why we're learning Ancient Sumerian?" Questioned Neville.

"The Ritual of Nanna-Suen's Wisdom on the Ninth of December. It can be used to give us control over our magic by twice what we normally could have." Reminded Susan.

"Right. We need to sacrifice a Bull's Worth of Blood to the Sumerian Moon God to get a boost in control." Added Hermione.

"Right, I'm just saying, did we ever really figure out what the Ritual Entailed? Didn't Professor Sinistra say she wasn't going to teach us unless we managed to learn Sumerian?" Queried Neville.

"Again, that's why we're learning Sumerian now, Nev." I reiterated.

"Honestly, Neville, you'd think you could have gained some confidence here." Huffed Hermione, exasperated.

"You think he's worried about cocking up Sumerian?" I asked.

"Don't be a Doylem, Nev. You'll do fine." Huffed Susan.

"I wish I could be that confident. Gran says I should be, at any rate." Muttered Neville.

"You'll do fine, Nev. Besides, we'll be there to help you learn." I reassured.

"Yes, we're friends after all." Affirmed Hermione.

"Aye. What are mates for? We'll help you out the whole way through, Nev." Added Susan.

"Thanks, guys." Beamed Neville.

"Don't worry about it. You'd do the same for any of us." I shrugged.

And with that, we continued watering and feeding the Mandrakes, while chatting about the upcoming ritual schedule. Airmed's Sickle first, then Sucullus' Craft, followed by Prometheus' Gaze, followed by Apollo's Benevolence, then the Ritual of Pelagic Adaptation and Laelaps' Nose, then two on the Ninth, first the Ritual of Mimir's Backward Glance, then, as the Eclipse happened during the daytime, the Ritual of Nanna-Suen's Wisdom. Seven Rituals to prepare for from the twenty-fourth to the ninth of December. It would wipe out a lot of my stockpiled Silver Points, but it should be worth it. Then, next year, we would learn the Ritual of Artemis' Skill, which would increase our Magical Control to three and a half times what it would have been without rituals, followed by the Ritual of Ba'al Hamon's Might to increase our Magical Power by one and a half times what we would have had without rituals.

It was a daring plan that we talked about, but thankfully, nobody cared to enter the Greenhouse where the Mandrakes were kept if they didn't have to. The potential for incidents was just too high, and we made sure to mitigate that by talking quietly enough not to wake the Mandrakes. Thankfully, they were already replanted, so we didn't need to worry about jostling them or anything like that waking them up. Regardless, the rest of Herbology Class that we didn't get to skip was a lot less immediately useful. We learned about three different kinds of Magical Lotuses, Black Lotus, Blue Lotus, and Purple Lotus.

The First was sometimes used by assassins, as Black Lotus Extract prevented all but one of the forms of magical healing. The second produced an extract that could heal wounds inflicted using Black Lotus Extract, while the Third Could produce an extract that could induce a trancelike state in the imbiber, which allowed even a non-Seer to gain a brief flash of insight into the future. Apparently, both Black and Purple Lotus Extracts were highly illegal in much of Wizarding Europe, but popular in certain parts of the Wizarding Middle East and South Asia. There were also other kinds of Magical Lotus, Brown, Yellow, Red, and Gold, but those wouldn't be taught until after the Christmas Holidays.

Next up was Transfiguration, and this Class had us learning the Beetle into Button Transfiguration, the Parchment to Blanket Transfiguration, and the Multicorfors Spell. The first and Second were fairly self-explanatory. The first was a transfiguration of a small bettle into a Button, usually brass, though any material would count for the grade. The Second was another fairly simple spell, transforming a sheet of parchment into a Blanket, usually cotton, though again, any material would count, so long as it was appropriate for a blanket. The last, however, was a more comprehensive spell, one requiring an incantation. Multicorfors changed the color, material, and style of an outfit to one pictured in your mind.

Of course, like with all Transfigurations done without the aid of a Philosopher's Stone, the Multicorfors Spell wasn't perfect. For one thing, it wouldn't be permanent unless you wanted to dramatically simplify your wardrobe, one reason why tailors never went out of business with magic like this. For another, it could only change things so much. Say you wanted to make a suit of armor, but were only wearing a shirt and a pair of trousers. Well, that just wasn't enough material to do something like that. You might get a chainmail shirt and leather trousers, but that was it. To truly get workable armor, you would need something like a full suite of robes. Apparently, it was a conservation of magic thing.

Much to my shock, I was actually the first to get the Multicorfors Spell down, proceeding to help teach Ron and Harry the spell, both of whom were having trouble. This, it seemed, also shocked Parvati, Tracey, and Daphne, all of whom were used to being the first to get Transfiguration Spells down. Still, they were friends, so I wouldn't rib them too hard, just giving them all a little smirk as I passed by them to go help Harry and Ron. Of course, both Ron and Harry seemed to take that as a bad call.

"You shouldn't've done that, Mate." Harry pointed out.

"Oh? Why not?" I questioned.

"Mate, Daphne already has it in for you after scaring her with the whole Maltreath Marsh thing over the Summer. Do you really want to tempt fate like that?" Queried Ron.

"What's life without a little risk?" I asked, rhetorically.

"Maybe you should have been in Gryffindor." Snorted Harry.

"Yeah, Mate. You're a braver man than we are, that's for sure." Chuckled Ron.

"Come on, let's get you two up to speed." I sighed, rolling my eyes at their antics.

"Whatever you say, Mate." Nodded Harry.

"Yeah. It's your funeral." Agreed Ron.

In the end, I managed to get Harry and Ron to successfully perform the Multicorfors Spell, though by the time they got it down, Harry proved to me he knew how to do it by transfiguring my school robes into Funeral Robes, just as I passed by Daphne again. I frowned at that, but my two Mates weren't done ribbing me just yet either.

"Dead Wizard Walking! Make Way!" Called out Ron.

With a sigh, I countered the Transfiguration on my robes as soon as I got back to my seat. Thankfully, however, chancing a glance back at Daphne, she seemed less angry than she otherwise might have been at my gloating. It looks like Harry and Ron might have saved me some pain by way of Daphne's revenge, though they did it in the most Gryffindorish Way possible. Still, it was hard to argue with the results. Daphne clearly wasn't still mad at me about my earlier gloating. Besides, when it came time to learn the Beetle to Button Transformation the week afterward, the proper order of things seemed to reassert itself, and I once again lagged behind the four Transfiguration Prodigies in the class.

I still got extra silver points from the week before, though. I would need them for the upcoming batch of Rituals. I didn't want to use so many Silver Points that Draco would eclipse me in the internal house rankings, after all. That could only lead to madness and disaster, and I wanted no part of anything even close to resembling that sort of situation. After all, if Draco were in charge, Slytherin would go down the toilet faster than you could say Jack Robinson. Definitely, it would end the rehabilitation of the House's Reputation that my various friendly initiatives were helping.

Regardless, next up was Astronomy. Thankfully, we did not learn any new rituals. Instead, we learned about the Asteroid Belt, its major planetoids like Ceres and Pallas, as well as how once there used to be another planet there, called Phaeton, which had been destroyed in Ancient Times and whose remnants now formed the Majority of the Asteroids in the Asteroid Belt. We learned of rituals that no longer worked, whose powers had completely vanished by the seventh century BC, and how this effectively meant that things with rituals and Gods weren't static, and could in fact be affected by things here in the physical world, though the amount of effort necessary to do so effectively equaled a planetary-scale catastrophe.

By the time the last of the lectures on the Asteroid Belt had finished up, however, Daphne, Millie, and Padma came up to me. I nodded at them, and they nodded back. Before I could ask them what was up, however, Daphne spoke up for the Group.

"We wanted to know if you've finished learning ancient Sumerian yet." She intoned.

"I have. It took some doing, but I managed it." I confirmed.

"I've gotten my Grandad to acquire the Bulls we need. All that's left is to figure out the exact steps." Informed Millie.

"While my Father doesn't approve of sacrificing Bulls, he does understand the necessity of having a strong grip on your magic. It's a religious thing balanced by a personal tragedy." Added Padma.

"Someone he knew have their own magic backlash on him?" I questioned.

"Yes, his Uncle. I don't know the specifics. Dad hardly ever talks about it, but it happened some time in the late forties, after a curse during Grindelwald's War had weakened his control badly enough." Explained Padma.

"I'm sorry that happened to your family." I offered.

"It's ok. Why be sorry for something that happened before I was born?" Queried Padma with a shrug.

"Still." I pressed.

"Padma's familial backstory aside, can we get back to the matter at hand?" Asked Millie.

"Indeed. You need to speak to Professor Sinistra about the steps to the Ritual of Nanna-Suen's Wisdom." Intoned Daphne.

"What about you all? Have you finished your own Sumerian Studies?" I questioned.

"Not yet." Admitted Millie.

"Almost, though." Insisted Padma.

"We should be ready by the Cross-House Study Group Session on Sunday." Informed Daphne.

"Which means you'll be ready to help anyone else still trying to learn." I nodded.

"Quite. I know Tracey will be ready by then as well." Responded Daphne.

"So will Hermione and Terry." Added Padma.

"Which just leaves Harry, Ron, Neville, Susan, and Hannah." Listed off Millie.

"I'll take Susan. Hermione can deal with Harry." Offered Daphne.

"I can handle Ron. I know he gets on your guys' nerves." I opined.

"Would you?" Queried Padma.

"Not a problem." I nodded.

"Great, in that case, I'll take Neville." Mused Millie.

"Leaving Terry with Hannah." Figured Daphne.

"Not Tracey?" Asked Padma.

"Tracey will be helping me." Sniffed Daphne.

"More like doing the work for you." I scoffed.

"I would be supervising." Protested Daphne.

"Right." Smirked Millie.

"Supervising, of course." Added Padma.

"Regardless, I should ask about the actual steps." I affirmed, leaving before this could blow up into an argument.

I headed over to where Professor Sinistra was grading a few pieces of homework from the fifth years and got her attention by clearing my throat. She looked up at me with a cocked eyebrow, and thankfully, in the conversation that followed, I was able to demonstrate sufficient grasp of the Ancient Sumerian Language to get her to teach me the steps to the Ritual of Nanna-Suen's Wisdom. First, you had to bleed a Bull into a Ritual Cedar Tub carved with the image of recumbent crescent moons with a Ritual Blade. Once that was done, you had to take the tub to an altar under the open sky and perform a small ceremony calling on Nanna-Suen during the Eclipse in Ancient Sumerian, then you had to pour the Bull's Blood into a Boat-Shaped Copper Bowl for sacrifice.

Apparently, if done correctly, the Blood in the Copper Ritual Bowl would vanish as it was poured in, allowing you to sacrifice the entire Bull to Nanna-Suen. Once the blood was fully emptied into the Bowl, Nanna-Suen would grant you his Ritual Blessing, which would give you twice the amount of Control you originally had over your magic. Professor Sinistra wrote down the steps and the ritual incantation ceremony for me on a piece of parchment. There were a few ritual motions, and you had to call out to Nanna-Suen with each one, but it was all here. Apparently, the whole Ritual should take around ten minutes to perform properly. That last bit was an issue, because the eclipse was only supposed to last long enough for six of us to complete the ritual.

Slytherin had three Ritual Chambers available to rent out, of course, but I wasn't sure if we could rent out more than one with Silver Points. Even if we could, that would take enough Silver Points to narrow the Margin some between Draco and I for leadership of Slytherin. I knew that Snape fed him extra points on the side as his Godfather, which made the Silver Points Rankings a lot closer than they should have been. Fortunately, Millie agreed to use some of her Silver points to rent the second Ritual Chamber for the night. It was a big thing for her to do, and I had to ask if she was sure about doing it. Her answer was simple and to the point.

"Sure. Besides, it's not like I'm anywhere near the top. Not like you and Daphne are. Hell, I'm still below Draco and even tied with Pansy Parkinson when it comes to House Rankings. I've got less to lose." Shrugged Millie.

"Thank you. That will help a lot." I beamed.

"Yes, your sacrifice will not go unnoticed." Intoned Daphne.

"Why did that sound like a threat?" Wondered Padma.

Either way, it seemed we were set for the Rituals. Now, all I had to do was finish out clubs and extracurricular training, and we would be ready to go. Interestingly, I wound up in detention for two of the Potions Clubs, along with one Cross-House Study Group meeting. I wasn't sure what was going on with it, but somehow, Trelawney wasn't the only Staff Member getting in on the action. Madame Pince handed me a detention for returning a library book overdue. It was odd, since I returned it overdue a month ago, which was why I suspected Trelawney had gotten her to do it. Trelawney herself had sent me to detention for the first Potions Club of the Month over some nonsense involving disrespecting the House Elves at lunch. All I'd said was that the Sandwich I'd gotten could use a bit less Mustard. The last detention, however, had come from Lockhart.

He'd apparently either cottoned on that I knew what he was about or suspected it, because he set me up with grunt work, helping the House Elves in the Kitchens. I suppose he did it to humiliate me, something about cooking being work for Women and House Elves. If so, the joke was on him. I rather enjoyed cooking. It was practically zen for me. Besides which, the Hogwarts House Elves were very good company, even to a kid in detention. However, I did make a mental note to resume trying to stalk Lockhart at the earliest opportunity, both to see something like this coming in advance next time and to potentially stop him from whatever it was he was trying to do with the NEWT-Level Girls Dueling Club he'd set up. Likely nothing good, or at least, nothing in good taste.

Regardless, the one Potions Club I made this Month had us learning a potion that would allow us to perceive our immediate surroundings without actually looking. A Potion of Tremorsense, it was called. With a Basilisk on the loose, that was one Hell of a Boon. Of course, Snape, being Snape, couldn't help but offer his own two cents, or two knuts, as the case may be, on the subject of using his potion to hunt for Basilisks.

"This Potion is not a foolproof defense against a Basilisk. Their venom will still kill you, even if their foreclaws and fangs do not. Should I hear of any of you doing something as dunderheaded as hunting for basilisks, thinking this potion will save you, you will be expelled from this club at the earliest opportunity I have." Intoned Snape.

And with that, we began the process of brewing the Potion of Tremorsense. It required Gnome Spit, Shredded Acromantula Silk, and Crushed Blindworm's Sting, each ingredient added twenty minutes after the other, with four stirs clockwise after each ingredient added, followed by letting it simmer for thirty minutes and steep for thirty minutes. The whole procedure only took two hours and wound up creating an oily dark brown substance, not too dissimilar in color and texture from a Balsamic Vinaigrette. Apparently, if you got the potion wrong, it would be a lot more pleasing to look at and drink, a medium brown liquid substance similar to chocolate milk. However, this substance was deadly when ingested. That was the most common potion's failure for this particular potion, and made brewing it tricky for those not in the know.

However, mine turned out acceptable by Snape's standards, and the standards of Severus Snape when it came to potions were very high indeed. Acceptable for him may as well be outstanding for anyone else. Unfortunately, as I bottled my Potion of Tremorsense and headed out of the one Potion's Club I could make, Snape began shouting at one of the Club Members, a Fourth Year Hufflepuff named Patricia Stimpson, who had gotten the Potion Failure that Snape had warned us all against. Patricia quailed at Snape's Fury, and I figured I wouldn't be seeing her again the next time I made it to Club, unfortunately. Some people were just like that, though.

Meanwhile, my time in the Cross-House Study Group was largely spent teaching others Ancient Sumerian so that they could actually perform the Ritual of Nanna-Suen's Wisdom correctly. I only really had time to pick up one thing. Terry, Hannah, and Tracey had all decided that they were going to go in together on buying a set of Books on obscure Runic Systems. They had one on Aramaic, one on Ugaritic, and one on Tocharian Script. It was the last one that I wanted to get my hands on.

"Tocharian Functions Similarly to Sanskrit Runes, but the symbols are completely different. This is wicked!" I grinned.

"Right, of course you'd want to learn something that adds a layer of complexity to stuff you already know." Scoffed Terry.

"Hey, just cause I'm thinking ahead to potential enemies is no reason for sour grapes, Mate." I pointed out.

"Still, you might want to offer a runic system in trade, you know." Pointed out Tracey.

"Yeah, it's the rules, after all." Insisted Hannah.

"That's a fair point. How would you like to learn Koine Greek Runes?" I questioned.

"You know those?" Queried Terry.

"Not yet, but I have the study materials." I insisted.

"Well, when you use those study materials, let us know." Opined Tracey.

"Come on, can't you give a bloke a break?" I asked.

"Maybe. If you'll part with something else too." Hedged Hannah.

"I can give you all a head start on Futhark and Ogham." I offered.

"Those are taught in the Elective Class next year." Terry pointed out.

"True. We'll need something else." Agreed Tracey.

"Sanskrit Runes, then." I tried.

"Nope. Terry's already teaching us those." Informed Hannah.

"All right, what about Chinese Seal Script? I can teach you that." I questioned.

"That's a lot of Runic Scripts. Just how many do you know?" Queried Terry.

"Right now? Futhark, Ogham, Sanskrit, and Chinese Seal Script. I'm working on others, but don't have the basics down yet." I admitted.

"I think we can take Chinese Seal script, right guys?" Asked Hannah.

"Sounds good." Agreed Tracey.

"Fine." Acknowledged Terry.

And with that, I produced the Book on Chinese Seal Script Runes that I had learned from and forked it over to trade for the Book on Tocharian Script Runes. I would begin working on these alongside my studies of Oscan Runes, as well as Koine Greek Runes, leaving Terry, Tracey, and Hannah to study up on Chinese Seal Script Runes. Hopefully, I would have Tocharian Script Runes ready to use at the same time I had Koine Greek Runes ready to use, though I wasn't holding my breath on having Oscan Runes ready to use any time soon.

Speaking of those Rune Systems, I largely worked on them in my downtime. Getting the Oscan Runes to a workable state was still slow going, though, and adding Koine Greek and Tocharian Script Runes to the pile now meant that I had very little time for other training in my downtime. In the end, I had to resort to training the Mind Arts in my sleep through Oneiromancy. Even that was somewhat limited, though, and things were slow going there as well. Thankfully, it seemed as if I would be done with Koine Greek Runes by the Christmas Holidays, and Tocharian Script Runes sometime during the Christmas Holidays, which would leave me with more training time, just as the one-year mark for the Bluemoon Grass Elixir came up on me and allowed me to begin Learning the active Spellwork from the Azarinth Healer's Treatise. My time for training was still going to be limited until then, however.

This was especially true, as, on November Twenty-Third, I once again found myself under the cover of my concealment cloak, spying on Lockhart outside his office, hoping to catch him doing something untoward. I would wind up not being alone in my stakeout, however. Partway through the evening, I would wind up bumping into Harry, also under the cover of his Invisibility Cloak.

And we would wind up having a bit of a Palaver about our respective investigations. . .

XXXX

AN: All right, so here we have the next chapter. It's another timeskippy one, but fortunately, things are proceeding apace with Blaise's plans. Unfortunately, Lockhart seems to have cottoned onto something with Blaise, probably because he can't just sense Blaise's thoughts with no effort like he can with the other students. It's made him suspicious, and given the fact he probably suspects he's been followed, well, best to bog down the potential snoop with detention so he doesn't ruin things for you. Of course, Blaise isn't the only one looking into Lockhart's activities, as we'll see next chapter.

Speaking of which, the next chapter will involve Blaise staking out Lockhart again and running into Harry, somewhat literally, as Harry tries to investigate things for himself. Then we'll have a chapter covering the various Rituals being performed from the Twenty-Fourth to the Ninth of December.

Stay tuned. . .