Chapter 42

The next two weeks things resumed mostly as normal. The hubbub around the run on the Stone had mostly died down by now, allowing me to get on with my training. Of course, owing to my sprained third eye, I was keeping the Mind Arts limited to simple Occlumency and Leglimency training, which meant I would be unable to take advantage of Oneiromancy to learn in my Dreamscape. It was an issue that would ultimately mean that I wouldn't get as much training as I was hoping for done before April dawned.

Magnus Gamp still kept up the regular sparring, but there was a renewed urgency to it that there hadn't been since those first frantic few weeks under his tutelage. I found myself sparring until I collapsed, then force fed potions to keep going until I collapsed again as the cycle repeated two to three times a training session. It was great for my capabilities at duelling, but I couldn't help but think it was a bit unnecessary, even if he was going to be leaving at the end of the month for America and thus would be unable to train me till he returned.

When not having me spar until I dropped, Magnus Gamp went over another non-standard Rune System. This time, Egyptian Priestly Hieroglyphs. Apparently, this was the most Complex Runic System that I would be able to learn right now. There were others, like Luwian, Chinese Seal Script, High Oscan, and Mycenean Linear M, which were more complex and which more could be done with, but the curriculum for learning these wasn't standardized outside of Gringotts and maybe a few Old Pureblood Families with roots in those areas. Accordingly, the most Complex Rune System that Magnus Gamp knew was Egyptian Priestly Hieroglyphs.

Of these, there were twenty-five primary sigils that represented the Major Egyptian Gods, from Amun to Wadj-Wer. There were also a number of Secondary Sigils representing more minor Gods, such as Ammit, Hedjhotep, Shai, Teweret, and so on. Each of these could be modified by a number of subsidiary sigils in an array to perform various things. For instance, using the symbol of Ra with the Symbol for Brazier in an array would help to power a magical light, but using the Symbol for Ra with the Symbol for Negation would create darkness. It was all very involved but could be used to do a decent amount more than the standard Ogham or Futhark Runes, even in an array.

By the time those two weeks were up, I had only learned the basics of such a complicated Rune System, but that was considered more than adequate for the level I was at and that any further lessons would have to wait until Second Year at least. It was still enough that I felt more than capable of trying my hand at any number of Runic Arrays. Of course, my spatial awareness, speed, stamina, and tactical capabilities also grew quickly thanks to the constant, draining, sparring that Magnus Gamp had me going through. However, on the last day of our training, Magnus Gamp took me aside.

"Lad, as you know, I'll be headed out to America tomorrow. I don't know if I'll be able to return before the term ends, so I got you a little something as a birthday gift." He spoke up.

"You didn't have to. You've already helped me so much." I protested.

"No, this is something that every student of mine gets. Every true student, at any rate. I'll not hear you refuse." Insisted Magnus Gamp before shoving a parcel wrapped in brown paper and twine into my hands.

"You know my Birthday isn't until next week. I don't know if I should open this now." I mused.

"Don't be daft, Lad. Open it!" Scoffed Magnus Gamp.

I did so, tearing into the paper and opening the parcel. What I found in the box was a single, enchanted, dragonhide leather glove. Really, it was more like a gauntlet. I had heard of these before, but I'd never actually seen one. This was a Dueling Glove. There had been a fashion for them back in the lead-up to and during Grindelwald's War. They were worn on the non-wand hand and were used to block certain spells depending on how heavily enchanted they were and what materials they were made of. There had been rumors that Grindelwald had owned one made of Dwarf-Metal and Enchanted by the Master Runesmith of the Dwarves of Norway back during the height of the War which could block everything short of a Killing Curse.

It was even rumored the Dwarves could make things that could do even that. They guarded those secrets jealously, however, and would not part with them even under threat of annihilation. Even owning a duelling gauntlet of the level he had forced the Dwarves to make him had been enough to make Grindelwald a force to be reckoned with, however. Only Dumbledore had dared to face Grindelwald himself on the field of battle without a numerical advantage, thanks to such things.

Really, it had been the Death Eaters that had made the fashion for such things fade. After all, every Death Eater had the Killing Curse in their arsenal and not even Grindelwald's Dwarven Gauntlet could block that. The Death Eaters had simply busted out the Killing Curse on any Aurors taking Dueling Gauntlets into battle with them, and since the Dwarves had reaffirmed their Isolationist Stance, shutting the gates of their mountain halls, even getting a dueling glove of Grindelwald's Quality would have been impossible for the Average British Wizard, not that such a glove would have blocked the Killing Curse, to begin with. Accordingly, dueling gloves had fallen out of fashion.

"A dueling glove?" I questioned.

"Indeed. That one was made with Hebridean Black Leather, the finest available in Britain. It's enchanted and rated to withstand most lower-level attack spells, up to and including Bombarda and Confringo." Informed Magnus Gamp.

"Will it work with my spell-storing ring?" I queried.

"I had thought you might ask that. Put the Glove on over your ring." Grinned Magnus Gamp.

I did so, and as I did, the knuckles of the glove fingers flashed with light. When the light receded, it appeared as if my Spell-Storing Ring had been embedded into the leather of the Glove over the same knuckle that I had the ring on before putting the glove on. I grinned back at Magnus Gamp on seeing that and he nodded at me.

"It's enchanted to incorporate magical jewelry worn on the hand and wrist of the wielder into itself." Explained Magnus Gamp.

"Wicked! How does that work?" I asked.

"That, Lad, is a Gamp Family Secret. Before you ask, even if I agreed to teach it to you, you're not ready for something of that complexity yet." Smirked Magnus Gamp.

"Well, thank you. I appreciate it." I thanked.

"Bah, don't thank me, just don't get yourself killed. You've almost done that twice this year, and I'll be damned if you die and make all this effort pointless the second I'm not here to keep an eye on you." Scoffed Magnus Gamp.

"I'll still be here when you get back." I promised.

"See that you are. I've got a lot invested in you, now, Lad." Huffed Magnus Gamp.

And with that, My Teacher parted ways with me for the time being. I didn't realize it then, but I wouldn't see Magnus Gamp again until the beginning of the next school year. His trip to America would wind up being a lot more involved than he had thought and would involve more than a simple Rougarou Pack, and involve Black Houngans and Vampire Mobsters to boot. When he told me the story the next time I saw him, even I would be shocked at how much trouble it would wind up being.

All that was in the future, however. In the present, I still had classes and clubs to attend. Herbology had us doing a unit on different soil types and a unit on different climates, both were relayed via lecture in regards to the sorts of Magical Plants that could generally be found in such soils and climates. As it would turn out, there were even magical plants that could grow in arctic climates, though they tended to be lichens, such as the Snowflake Lichen, which leeched heat from nearby creatures and presented a deadly threat in such cold climates. Meanwhile, there were all sorts of nasties that could grow in soggy soil, the worst of which were various magical molds.

"Magical Molds are a potent danger when trodding through soggy ground. If they take hold in an area, and it is always an area with wet soil, they will generally release spores after a few days. You should always take care to traverse areas that may have magical molds in them with a Bubblehead Charm or similar precaution, Dearies, just in case. You don't want to be breathing in those spores." Insisted Professor Sprout.

"Why, Professor? What could happen?" Questioned Susan.

"Darklung for one." I insisted.

"From Gray Magical Mold, yes, Dearie. Can you tell the class what Darklung is, Mister Zabini?" Queried Professor Sprout.

"When you breathe in spores from Grey Magical Mold, they cling to the lungs, incubating. The First symptoms might not show up for days, but they will show up eventually if you're not careful. The Mold Grows even in the lungs, you see. You'll start getting short of breath, and if you don't seek a healer immediately, within a few hours, you'll start to feel like you're drowning. By that point, the Mold in your lungs will have reached critical mass, and if you don't get to a healer at that point, you'll suffocate within an hour or so as the mold grows to fill your entire lungs. That's not the worst part, though. When a Wizard dies of Darklung, they become a seedbed for the Grey Mold, and the spores will spread out the mouth and nose of the corpse within a few hours, potentially infecting nearby witches and wizards." I informed.

"Hadaway with that!" Scoffed Susan.

"No, it's quite true, Dearie. Five points to Slytherin for that answer. However, Magical Gray Mold is usually not something you see in Magical Britain or any of the Richer Wizarding Nations. The governments of such places usually have effective health services capable of responding to any outbreaks. The Ministry's Department of Healers and Health has declared Magical Gray Mold largely extinct in Wizarding Britain, for example. However, there is always the chance of some traveler returning from a trip abroad bringing a dormant spore culture with them back to Wizarding Britain. Can anyone tell me the last time such a thing happened?" Intoned Professor Sprout.

"Nineteen-Eighty-One, Professor. Longo Birch returned from hiding in Magical Itza during the war with You-Know-Who and brought a sample of Magical Gray Mold Spores back with him in his luggage. The Ajaw Kan Ek of Magical Itza had recently dealt with an outbreak in the Street of Serpents the year previously and Longo Birch was known to frequent a Cantina there. When he returned to Tutshill after You-Know-Who's Defeat, the rainy weather caused the spores to bloom to life, and an outbreak happened. The Ministry had to send in Aurors to incinerate Longo's Home." Answered Daphne.

"Correct. Another five points for Slytherin. So you see, Dearies, never underestimate the power of Magical Mold." Finished Professor Sprout.

That took care of Herbology, and in Transfiguration, we were once again more or less given easy days, thanks to Professor McGonagall having to pull double duty as interim Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor now that Quirrel was presumably busy being tortured to death by the Goblins for his trespasses into Gringotts. She had us working on revisions in preparation for Finals that we would be taking in the first week of May. Granted, we had a bit over a month left of normal classes remaining in the School Year, but given how McGonagall was pulling double duty and how important Defense was, I was inclined to cut her a break. You could be a good wizard and still be just all right at Transfiguration, but you couldn't live in the Wizarding World without being able to defend yourself, after all.

Astronomy was one week of revision and one week of new material. I partnered up with Parvati once again for the new lessons. In this case, the lesson was on a new ritual, the ritual of Mercury's Favor, a Roman Ritual that required the sacrifice of a mixture of blood, wine, and honey in a ritual bowl set on an altar of Hazel Wood with the Planet Mercury overhead. If successful, over the course of the next year and a day, the supplicant would be guaranteed to receive wealth in excess of ten times the value of the bowl used for the sacrifice, usually in the form of business dealings. To maximize the potential returns, it was customary to make the bowl out of solid gold, encrusted with various gemstones, and so on.

I, of course, had a leg up on everyone else here, as my Mother had a bowl she used for just this sort of ritual. Obviously, since Mercury was a Roman God, the Zabini Family knew about and consistently practiced this ritual. I had even brought the bowl with me from home in my trunk after the Holiday Break, knowing that I would be at school during the period in Early April when Mercury would be visible in the night sky. It was a six-pound solid gold ritual urn encrusted with four rubies. The total value of the Urn was eight-thousand-one-hundred-fifty-one Galleons. That guaranteed me a return of at least eighty-one-thousand-five-hundred-ten Galleons over the next year, not including profits from various businesses my Mother had managed to invest in, purchase, or obtain in the wills of her various husbands.

Of course, when I mentioned this, I got jealous looks from Parvati, along with a few questions from my various other friends to boot.

"Do you think I could borrow that bowl, Mate?" Queried Ron.

"No." I refused.

"Why not?" Asked Hermione.

"Because the bowl will only work for one person until the time period of the ritual ends. You can't double dip when Gods are involved." Responded Daphne.

"That figures." Frowned Harry.

"Why do you care? Surely you've got access to the Potter Family Vault?" Questioned Susan.

"I have access to a vault, I don't know if it's the Potter Family Vault. Dumbledore has my Vault Key. Apparently, he's been in charge of my assets since my Mum and Dad died." Admitted Harry.

"That's not great, Harry." Frowned Millie.

"I mean, I wouldn't know what to do with it all anyway." Shrugged Harry.

"That isn't the point. There could be family heirlooms in there, artifacts, tomes, secret family spells. You really haven't looked?" Queried Parvati.

"No. Is that something that happens?" Asked Harry.

"Gran keeps a bunch of Longbottom Family Artifacts in our Vault that she doesn't want Uncle Algie having access to." Nodded Neville.

"Like what?" Questioned Tracey.

"Apparently, there's some sort of Magical Ring that will let you take on the appearance of anyone you've seen before in there. Gran thinks Uncle Algie will use it to sleep with various people's wives by pretending to be their husbands 'cause of some incident when they were younger." Answered Neville.

"Ew. No offense, Neville, but your Uncle sounds like a creep." Insisted Hannah.

"None taken. He's not a very nice man. Did I mention how he pushed me out of a window to try and test if I had any magic?" Queried Neville.

"That's barbaric!" Exclaimed Terry.

"That's Uncle Algie." Shrugged Neville, helpessly.

"Neville's Weird Uncle aside, Harry, you really should ask Dumbledore for your key back." I pressed.

"You think?" Asked Harry.

"I do." I confirmed.

"Adding onto that, you do realize that the Potter Family is one of two extant families descended from the Peverell Family, yes? There could be things in your Vault of ancient magic you don't know about simply because you haven't looked." Informed Daphne.

"Yeah, I heard your Grandad died when your Mum and Dad were in hiding. They wouldn't have had a chance to check anything he'd put in there before his death while they were under the Fidellius Charm." Added Millie.

"Besides, you really shouldn't get into the Habit of entrusting your banking details to someone else, Harry. You never know what could happen!" Hissed Hermione.

"I'll have to look into it." Agreed Harry.

"Anyway, that still doesn't help us with this bowl thing." Grumbled Ron.

"Cheer up, Ron. There's enough pureblood nobles here that we can pool our galleons to get everyone something." Offered Susan.

"I'd contribute to that." I concurred.

"I suppose I should as well. After all, Daddy keeps giving me random allowance money, and I can't spend it all." Opined Parvati.

"Allowance Money? Why?" Questioned Tracey.

"He went to School at the Gupt Mahal in Dehli. They allow their students an equivalent to Hogsmeade Trips starting in their first year." Responded Parvati.

"Lucky. I'd hex someone for a box of chocolate frogs right now." Groused Millie.

"Still, I suppose I should contribute as well. I'm sure that between all of us, we can get everyone a perfectly fine ritual bowl." Nodded Daphne.

"I'm not as sure Gran will agree to let me contribute." Cautioned Neville.

"Yes, I'm not really able to contribute either, being Muggleborn." Warned Hermione.

"I'm sure it won't matter. You two are Mates, after all." Remarked Terry.

"Yeah, Susan and I would be pretty poor Hufflepuffs if we didn't insist you still get bowls of your own for this." Affirmed Hannah.

"So it's settled, everyone gets a bowl from the funds contributed. I'll skip out on Potions Club this Friday to commission them in Hogsmeade, and we'll book the Slytherin Ritual Room for the Second Friday of April." I intoned.

"Why not the first week?" Queried Ron.

"I have plans that week." I answered.

"Right, your Birthday. I do hope you're ready for the best present ever." Insisted Daphne.

"You know you didn't have to get me a present." I pointed out.

"No, we wanted to." Concurred Millie.

"So don't think you're getting out of this because we all put some thought into things." Warned Tracey.

"Yeah, Mate. If you didn't want a Birthday Present, you should've mentioned it." Grinned Terry.

"I don't know about Daphne's best present ever, but I'm confident you'll enjoy my present." Added Hermione.

"Wait, it's your birthday next week?" Asked Ron.

"It is." I confirmed.

"Bloody Hell, I didn't even know!" Exclaimed Ron.

"Neither did I." Shrugged Harry.

"I don't think anyone but Daphne, Tracey, Millie, Terry, and Hermione did." Offered Parvati.

"I know I didn't, which is odd. You'd think I'd be told a thing like that." Huffed Susan.

"Well, now we have to throw a party." Mused Hannah.

"Yeah, I'll bet the Weasley Twins can get a hold of various party things." Opined Neville.

And just like that, not only had we settled the issue of ritual bowls for the Ritual of Mercury's Favor for our entire group, but I had also just been drafted into a party for the first Saturday of April. Of course, I didn't mind. Thanks to Magnus Gamp leaving for America, I could just move my run on the Metamorphing Mandragora up to one of the blocks of time formerly taken up by his tutoring sessions. I'd probably do it on Tuesday since that would give me time to recover from whatever wounds I took in the Greenhouse, even if they required a stay in the Hospital Wing.

Aside from Classes and Tutoring, however, there were also clubs and my own training the last two weeks of March. Unfortunately, the one dueling club meeting I went to wound up being one that Terry didn't make it to, and he was the only bloke who would reliably challenge me to duels. All the other first years were steering clear of me, so were the second and third years, come to that, and while the fourth and fifth years were more willing to duel me, they all had their own vendettas and rivalries to settle. I still wasn't worth the time of the sixth and seventh years, though. Unfortunately, that was just the price of coming out the winner in that duel against Eekins before the Holiday Break. I hadn't lost a duel yet, even when said duel had been against a fifth year like Eekins. It intimidated most potential opponents.

I resigned myself to possibly not having any more dueling opponents for at least the rest of the year and watched on as Daphne and Millie had a friendly, stakes-free duel down in the pit. I knew that when the statute of my wager with Malfoy ran out at the start of the next school year, he and his would be my opponents, but until then, it seemed I would be relegated to the gallery. I didn't mind, though, watching my two mates duel and cheering them both on by turns was fun enough.

Eventually, Millie tripped up Daphne with an interesting bit of spellwork. She used incarcerous to conjure a rope that she then hit with a Coloshoo to coat in magical stickiness once Daphne had dodged. The rope came back into play a few exchanges later as Millie banished it at Daphne, sticking her to the wall with both the rope and the coloshoo to win the bout. I felt it was clever tactics to conjure something, use another spell to preserve its utility, and then put it back into play later, but that didn't seem to be the prevailing thought, at least outside the upper years. Most fourth years and under thought it was cheating, as did no small amount of the fifth years.

Regardless, I skipped one weekly Potions Club Meeting to sneak into Hogsmeade using the Zabini Family Concealment Cloak and the secret passage to Honeydukes' Cellar. The one meeting I made it to was another one that Professor Snape insisted I simply take notes in. This was because the class was brewing Garotting Gas. Granted, it was a milder version that only choked you unconscious as opposed to the more virulent version that suffocated you to death, but it was still an advanced and volatile potion, too advanced and volatile for a first year, no matter how clever.

"Why would you teach us to brew something like this?" Demanded Katie Bell.

"This need not be used on Wizards, Miss Bell. Why, I myself keep a garden of potions ingredients that periodically requires de-gnoming. I utilize this exact formula to render the little pests unconscious so that I might dispose of them without being bitten, unlike some more dunderheaded people." Insisted Snape.

"That's barbaric!" Protested Katie Bell.

"No, Miss Bell, that is sensible. Now, I shall be taking five points from Gryffindor for your outburst. Any further interruptions?" Intoned Snape.

Katie didn't say anything else, just glared down at her cutting board. That caused Snape to flash a smug, self-satisfied grin for a moment before turning back to the rest of the Club and pointing at the chalkboard.

"Now that there are no further interruptions, I expect you to follow these instructions to the letter. Potion failures from this particular mixture are always invariably fatal. I will have no dunderheads causing any fatalities in this club." Drawled Snape.

It was a reminder that for all that Snape seemed to like me as a student, for some reason, he was still a contemptible, petty, bully of a man when it suited him. I shouldn't let my personal experience with him cloud my judgment on that. In the end, I managed to observe and note down the process to make Mild Garrote Gas, and the Club passed without incident. That left just the Cross-House Study Group and my own training for the rest of the month.

Once again, I had to put a hard limit for how long I was going to teach for, as I wanted to get the Sanskrit Rune System down in a reasonable time frame. Over the course of the two Cross-House Study Group Sessions remaining in March, I just about managed it. learning the remaining twenty-three runes and the underlying principles of putting them together in arrays to cause various effects. It turned out that each Rune represented a God, and certain Gods took to certain Arithmantic Numbers better than others for their arrays. For example, the Rune Prhaum was the Rune of Hanuman, the Monkey God of Wisdom, Strength, Courage, Devotion, and Self-Discipline. Hanuman took to the number five above all others, and arrays using the Arithmantic Number Five would always work better for Prhaum than any others.

Aside from that, I spent a small amount of time in the Cross-House Study Group teaching others. Mostly, this was about things that I had learned in my Tutoring Sessions with Magnus Gamp. Neville, for instance, wanted to learn Alchemy, while Daphne was interested in learning Wandlore. I taught them as best I could in the time I wasn't learning Sanskrit Runes and the systems that made them work. It wasn't much though, and I unfortunately had to postpone most of the lessons to the next Cross-House Study Group.

By myself, I continued the basic Occlumency and Leglimency training, but only the basic training, since my Third Eye was still recovering from the strain of my last vision. Aside from that, I kept producing Alchemical Gold for use in creating True Orichalcum with the Philospher's Stone. I had already ordered a bunch of alluvial copper for the smelting of True Orichalcum. Enough of it arrived by the last week of march that I could begin smelting the scales. Ordinarily, to do this, you couldn't use transfiguration. According to the Craftsman's Tradition, you needed a proper forge to get it to take because the transmutation effect from regular transfiguration wouldn't mesh permanently. Of course, with the Philosopher's Stone, I could shortcut all that by using its properties.

See, I had found that the reason the Philosopher's Stone could do things like making high-quality gold, which normal Transmutation couldn't do, was entirely down to its nature as a catalyst for Perfect Transmutation. I'd even go so far as to say this was a far more beneficial aspect of the stone than just making the gold itself. Putting that to the test, I was able to transmute the Alluvial Copper and Philosopher's Gold into True Orichalcum. The whole setup was completely stable, to boot. It wouldn't de-transmute like it would have if I'd used normal transfiguration!

This was dangerous, and not just because it could give you effectively eternal life in a setting that frowned upon that sort of thing, nor because it could crash the economy with massive amounts of Gold. Perfect Transfiguration was dangerous! In the wrong hands, this could be used to blow up the world! Literally, I could easily see a Muggleborn who wanted revenge on Pureblood Society for looking down on them getting carried away and transmuting enough antimatter to blow up the island of Britain using the stone! And that was just off the top of my head! There were dozens of other uses that could be literal murder! Ever want to make like Medusa and turn a bunch of people to stone permanently? With the Philosopher's Stone, you could!

Really, it was no wonder that Nicholas Flamel had kept this hidden. I couldn't even blame him for bogarting the Elixir of Life! Not when any two-bit wannabe Dark Lord could use the Stone to really do some damage! I frowned at that as I thought it. I had a meeting with Dumbledore on Monday about the Stone Usage. If he realized I'd found out about perfect transmutation, what were the odds that he would demand the stone back now? Pretty good, I'd say. I would have to get the most use that I could out of it in the time I had left.

To that end, I created enough true orichalcum for two dusters and a few rings. Then proceeded to create seven vials of the Elixir of Life. One each for Lord Greengrass, Daphne, and Daphne's Sister Astoria, one for Professor Lupin, who would be coming to teach in Third Year, and who would jump at the chance to cure his Lycanthropy, and three for emergencies. I followed that up by transfiguring the true orichalcum scales onto my Tebo-Hide Duster. Thanks to the enchantments I'd had put on it, it would resize to fit me as the years passed. Unfortunately, I would have to sew the remaining True Orichalcum scales onto Dragonhide once I got to making my Improved, Artifact, Duster, after fourth year, manually. The Elixir of Life Vials and remaining True Orichalcum went into my Mokeskin Pouch as I resigned myself to giving back the Philosopher's Stone when I spoke to Dumbledore next.

Aside from that, I had the opportunity to learn just one spell before the month was up in my self-training. For this, I chose another Roman Spell I picked up from a book in my Mother's Library. The Anti-Scrying Spell. It was similar to Sonus Inferior in that it dampened sound in an area delineated by the pointing of a staff, or in this case, a wand. The incantation was Oculi Morsus, and it would strike anyone attempting to scry or divine the delineated area with magical force in the eyes hard enough to blind them, at least temporarily. It had been said that the Dark Lord was a Seer himself, and I was hoping that such a spell might be able to catch Voldemort off-guard.

According to the Book, it had been invented on the orders of none other than Augustus Caesar himself, back during the War of Mutina, as he didn't want Antony's Legionary Wizards to be able to scry his movements. It hadn't been finished before Hertius and Pansa defeated Antony at the Battle of Mutina but had been finished by the time of the Liberator's Civil War, where it had notably been used to hoodwink Brutus and Cassius into getting caught between Augustus and Antony at Phillipi. Granted, Brutus and Cassius almost managed to fight their way out of the trap at one point, but the fact that they were caught between the two armies at all was due to this particular spell.

It was even said that Brutus and Cassius' Army Soothsayer, a Parthian Wizard named Arshak the Far-Seeing, attempted to divine the movements of the incoming Caesarian Army using Remote-Viewing and was struck blind permanently by the spell. Arshak had been forced to wander the battlefield at Phillipi unseeing and fell into the marsh that dominated part of the battlefield, where he drowned to death in the mire. I wasn't sure that would be a thing that happened if Voldemort ever got a body back, but it couldn't hurt to have that arrow in my quiver, at least.

By the time everything was said and done, I did as I always did when preparing to go to bed. I drank my Bluemoon Grass Elixir, showered, and headed off to sleep. Mercifully, there were no visions, but there were also no late-night training sessions in my dreamscape with Oneiromancy. Instead, I had a perfectly normal, unportentous dream, for a given value of normal. Apparently, it involved a banquet and seven different kinds of multi-colored flan. I couldn't really recall. I woke up on the first of april with my Third Eye fully rested and healed, ready to start my Birthday Week.

And it would begin with a visit to Dumbledore to talk about the Stone. . .

XXXX

AN: All right, so here's the rest of March. Things are gonna get less time-skippy for a bit now because the first week of April has a lot going on in it. Not just Blaise's Birthday, but also the Run on the Overgrown Greenhouse to grab a cutting of Metamorphing Mandragora, the meeting with Dumbledore about the Stone, and a surprise visit from Fortuna, the Roman Goddess of Luck in Blaise's Dreams. We'll have a number of individual chapters in the first week or two of April before one final timeskippy chapter covering the rest of the School Year, then we'll officially be finished with Year One. I have a few things planned for the Summer, of course, but that will be the official end of Hogwarts for the Year.

At any rate, the next chapter will include the meeting with Dumbledore involving the Philosopher's Stone. Expect Dumbledore to figure out Blaise has rumbled the fact that the Philosopher's Stone is a catalyst for Perfect Transfiguration and demand the Stone back at some point during the meeting.

Stay tuned. . .