Chapter 24

The first pair of days of November were mostly spent recovering and resting, I'd taken quite a beating fighting those trolls and the Tebo. However, when I returned from the Hospital Wing, I was almost immediately set upon by Magnus Gamp. Apparently, missing training because of injury had made him extremely eager to up my courseload in his classes. He'd even signed me out of Herbology, Transfiguration, History of Magic, and Astronomy this week to keep me for his own training, something I was surprised to see the Headmaster signed off on.

"Dumbledore said that if you're going to be fighting trolls, you may as well get the extra training in while you can, so you don't get killed." Snorted Magnus Gamp when I had asked.

"What about my other classes?" I questioned.

"There'll be plenty of time to make up work in them once you've completed the second-year Defense, Potions, and Charms courseload, plus a few bits and bobs of my own. By the time the Christmas Holidays roll around, you'll be ready for a third-year curriculum in those." Intoned Magnus Gamp.

"And you'll start me on that after we come back from the Christmas Holidays, I assume?" I questioned.

"You won't be able to handle it. I'll save that for next year. Instead, I'll be broadening your knowledge base and helping you study up on what you missed." Responded Magnus Gamp.

"Broadening my knowledge base?" I queried.

"Yeah, there's plenty of subjects not taught in the Hogwarts Curriculum. When I was in school, students used to be able to track down a professor and get resources to study them, but since You-Know-Who managed to trick some basic necromancy out of old Professor Ronen during his school days, the whole process has been frowned on ever since. I plan to give you a decent grounding in the basics of a few of those extracurricular subjects." Nodded Magnus Gamp.

"Oh? Which ones?" I asked, curious.

"Not important right now. Now, if you're going to be doing some damn fool thing like fighting Trolls, we'll have to ensure your combat magic is up to snuff. Defend yourself!" Insisted Magnus Gamp.

Thus began the most grueling spar I've had thus far, Magnus Gamp had stopped holding back quite as much as he had been previously. It wasn't even close and I never even got near landing a single spell on him. I was forced to use the dead moment to avoid a massive barrage of spells that made it seem as if he had cast three different spells at once. That wasn't the case, Magnus Gamp was just that good. Unfortunately, just moving out of those bracketing barrages of spellfire using the dead moment had forced me into a trap. Magnus Gamp had effectively forced me to move where he wanted me to move with those.

The dead moment ran out after twelve seconds of dodging and I was forced to put up a Scutum Charm, bracing the single-directional shield with my shoulder and interposing it in the way of another, blue-gray, roaring, spell. The spell struck the Scutum Charm with the force of a battering ram, shattering my spell and sending me sprawling to the floor. I fired an Incendio back, at Magnus Gamp to try and avoid him taking advantage, but he'd been expecting that and had already moved out of the way. I conjured a rope with the Incarcerous Spell at him, but it was sliced in half by a whirling, silver, arc of a spell. Then Magnus Gamp cast an Expeliarmus at me as I pushed myself off the ground which knocked me back down and sent my wand flying. Then, Magnus Gamp stalked up to me and pointed his wand at my face as I flopped onto my back.

"Bang, you're dead." He stated.

"That. . .wasn't fair." I huffed.

"Life isn't fair, get used to it." Scoffed Magnus Gamp.

"Still, what was all that?" I questioned.

"That was the sort of spellwork that you can expect to face if you continue to fight above your weight class. That wasn't even the best I could do." Answered Magnus Gamp.

"I guess. Is that the sort of thing you'll be teaching me?" I queried.

"Maybe when you're older. The Guillotine Charm definitely has to wait till then. Same for Multiple Spellcasting, which requires a grounding in Arithmancy to figure out the trick." Responded Magnus Gamp.

"What was that one you used to break my Scutum Charm?" I asked.

"Jotungreip? It's an Old Norse Shieldbreaker, the Giant Fist Spell. That you might be able to learn next year, though with a second year's magical core, even an overdeveloped one, I doubt you'll be breaking a properly cast Protego. The Scutum Charm should be doable, along with a few other lesser shield spells." Shurgged Magnus Gamp.

"Wicked." I grinned.

"It is that. Now, this was meant as a bit of a lesson. Can you guess what that lesson was?" Demanded Magnus Gamp.

"There's always someone better out there?" I hedged.

"That's part of it. The other part was to keep your strategy evolving. You saw how I forced you to move where I wanted you to, yes? And then switched to a shieldbreaker when you put up that Scutum Charm? You're a big fish in a small pond right now, and while there's always a bigger fish out there, proper use of strategy can go a long way towards at least helping you not die." Nodded Magnus Gamp.

And with that, my intensive series of lessons began. By the time I was done, not only had I finished out the second-year curriculum in Defense, but I'd also been put through the wringer in terms of sparring, with Magnus Gamp pushing me harder than I'd been pushed before. At the same time, he also threw in a few lessons he thought would help me that weren't a part of the first and second-year defense curriculum but were still defense subjects. These included lectures on strategy and also on how to defend against several less-powerful types of Fae like the Alp-Luachra, Chluricaun, and Puca.

He also taught me two new combat spells, such as Feachd Lomadh, an ancient Scottish Defensive Charm that insulated the caster from the elements and could act as a defense against heat, cold, and electrical-based spells. He also taught me the Berserkergang Charm, a spell that could induce a state of Berserker Rage in a target that doubled that target's speed, strength, and toughness at the cost of their rational mind. Apparently, however, a solid grounding in the Mind Arts would negate the negative aspects of the spell and allow it to be transformed into a general-purpose physical augmentation spell that was both less fickle than, and cumulative with, potions. That would definitely come in handy when fighting any trolls in the future, though I wasn't sure if I could trust casting the spell on anyone other than myself just yet.

"When the Vikings invaded England, they brought their own Wizards with them. English, Irish, Welsh, and Scottish Wizards of the time often misidentified Norse Wizards using both potions and the Berserkergang Charm as having Giant Blood because they were as strong, fast, and tough as Half-Giants under the cumulative effect." Explained Magnus Gamp as he taught me the spell.

Regardless, I was effectively trained into the ground during this week and then given fatigue-curing potions before going at it again. My dueling capabilities reached new heights because of it, though I still wasn't winning against Magnus Gamp, even when he held back. Thankfully, I somehow retained the energy to train on my own time. I had my hard-won crafting materials and could get to work.

By the end of the Week, I was sporting an alchemically treated Tebo-hide Coat that not only carried enchantments of Glamour, Element Resistance, Comfort, and Re-sizing but was also moderately resistant to direct attack spells and physical damage. I also had brewed up a batch of Potions of Regeneration, which utilized troll blood in their construction, that would swiftly heal any injury done to the drinker, provided it wasn't mortal, over the course of a few hours. Effectively, if I was hurt, I could drink one, take a nap, and wake up as good as new.

It was only thanks to the Recipes in The Craftsman's Tradition that I was able to get those made. Of course, I also had a few things I was planning to craft for my circle of mates since the Christmas Holidays were coming up. I managed to get a batch of presents for Daphne, Tracey, Susan, Hannah, and Millie done this week. A batch of Tebo-Bone Rings of Disillusionment that drew upon the inherent properties of the Tebo to turn invisible.

Those were actually quite easy to make, taking only an hour per ring, since most of the work was already done by the inherent qualities of the Tebo and the only real thing I had to do was carve the bones into a ring shape, carve the Sympathetic Magic Enhancement Runes on them, and polish them up. It wasn't like with the Potions of Regeneration which had eight different steps to brew and took four hours for the batch, or the duster which not only had to be alchemically treated via an oil that took a few hours to make, but also turned into a duster and enchanted. Just making the oil to alchemically treat the leather took a day, and letting the treatment soak into the leather took another day. I was honestly lucky that I had the Galleons to pay for an overnight job from Gladrags to sew me up a duster for enchanting or this wouldn't have been done. As it was, I was just barely able to get it all done by Saturday by sacrificing my ability to do my own training.

Speaking of Saturday, Hermione, Daphne, and Susan had been plotting something for Millie and I. Apparently, they'd gathered our friend group together, sans Neville, who was still in the Hospital Wing having his leg bones regrown with Skele-Gro, for a party. Apparently, not dying was a reason to celebrate, and even Harry and Ron had shown up.

"Here. You took down a troll, you earned this." Nodded Daphne as she pressed a cold bottle of Goblin Juice Cola into my hands.

"Why Daphne, are you actually praising me?" I teased.

"Don't be an arse, Blaise. Nobody likes an arse." Sniffed Daphne, turning about and walking away. The slight grin on her face however let me know my friend was glad that I hadn't died.

I was just happy that everyone was alive, and that somehow, they'd come up with a few cases of Goblin Juice and several Candy Assortments from Honeydukes. I sat down on a purloined Sofa next to Susan and Hermione. Hermione was writing down something with a quill and parchment, while Susan was busily biting the head off a chocolate frog. The poor thing twitched as Susan bit into it before going still in a macabre parody of predation in the wild. Susan must've seen the face I made at that out of the corner of my eye because she just rolled her eyes.

"Don't be radge, it's just choco, aye?" She snorted.

"Sure. Disturbingly lifelike choco. I'll take a Cauldron Cake, thanks." I smirked.

"Suit yourself. Still, it's Canny to see you up and about." Smiled Susan, passing me a Cauldron Cake. I ripped open the box and bit into the frosted sweet with a nod. Swallowing the mouthful of sugary goodness before replying.

"Thanks. Honestly, it could be worse. I could need a whole limb's worth of bones regrown like Neville." I mused.

"How did Neville break his whole leg anyhow?" Questioned Hermione, looking up from whatever it was she was writing.

"I dunno. Harry and Ron are his housemates. Maybe we should ask them?" I hedged.

"Canny suggestion, though they look a touch busy." Remarked Susan, gesturing over to where Harry and Ron were playing a game of exploding snap with Terry Boot at a table to our left.

"I see. Exploding snap does require some concentration. Probably best not to interrupt their game." Sighed Hermione.

"Or you'll see why it's called exploding snap." I chuckled.

"What are you writing, Hermione?" Queried Susan, changing the subject.

"My Chrismas List. Better to get it done early than to wait until the last minute. The stores run out of things when you wait like that." Responded Hermione.

"That's so you, Mione." I grinned.

"I'm not certain I understand what you mean." Huffed Hermione with faux affront.

"Right, and I'm the Queen of the Sidhe." Laughed Susan.

At that, Hermione and I joined in the laughter, and after a while, Hermione turned to me and said, "I'm glad you're all right, by the way."

"Thanks, 'Mione. I'm glad I'm all right too." I nodded.

Then I finished my Cauldron Cake and stood up to mingle with the rest of my party guests. At some point, I drew Tracey, Millie, and Hannah into a game of Tarocco Siciliano, which I won after just ninety minutes of play. Tracey got second place, while Hannah came in third, leaving Millie as the Caboose. Tracey then pulled out her Guitar and began to strum out a tune while Millie pulled me aside to talk to me in private.

"I never did thank you for saving me, you know." She began.

"I didn't do it by myself. Harry and Ron helped." I pointed out,

"I know, and I talked with both of them. They said you had a vision and asked them for their help. Well, they mentioned they owed you for something else first, but the general gist of the whole thing was that you were the driving force." Continued Millie.

"That's true, but you would've done the same for me." I shrugged.

"Still, I want to give you something for helping me out." Insisted Millie.

"Millie, you really don't have to." I responded.

"I insist." Pressed Millie.

Then, without warning, she leaned forward and kissed me. It wasn't anything big, just a peck on the lips. We were still just pre-teens, after all. It still took me by surprise and I had to force myself not to let out a sort of undignified squawk at being kissed, even like that. As Millie retracted, I saw her face flush crimson, and she looked away.

"Millie. . ." I tried to come up with something to say to let her down gently. She was a good friend and the last thing I wanted was to break her heart, but there was no way we were gonna start a relationship like this. Even if I wasn't mentally years older than she was, I wasn't in a place to even have a girlfriend right now. Not with all the training that was eating up my time.

"RightIshouldgonow!" babbled out Millie hurriedly, then she retreated away from me.

"What just happened?" I blinked to myself.

Millie avoided me for the rest of the get-together. I'd known she had a crush on me, but I'd thought she'd get over it since it was just a schoolgirl crush. Puppy love, the kind that you get when you're our age. She'd acted on it though. Was it because I saved her from the Trolls? I didn't know, but it wasn't something that I was prepared for.

Of course, when the group met up for our Cross-House Study Group, Millie seemed to be acting normal, leaving me even more confused. Mind you, I was immediately pulled into giving Ron another remedial lesson on Occlumency and put the kiss and the odd interaction out of my mind for the time being. Ron, it turned out, had reached a breakthrough in his Occlumency practice. He'd managed to get the first step, meditation to order your mind, finished in his spare time. Now he wanted my help in visualizing a basic shield. By the time the first hour of the study group was over, he seemed to be slowly but surely making progress on a basic Occlumency Shield.

"Good job. It seems like you're not a fast learner, but a dedicated one. So long as you keep working at it like that, you should be able to get a basic shield down." I nodded.

"Yeah, it only took me two bloody months to get the first step done." Snorted Ron.

"Keep working at it, Mate. I know you'll get it down." Nodded Harry as he approached, Terry Boot in tow.

"Harry's right, Mate. Just keep at it." I agreed.

"So, we were hoping to catch you for a bit of a question." Began Terry.

"Which is?" I asked.

"Well, we noticed you were absent from classes this week." Remarked Harry.

"And when we asked, we were told that your tutor had signed you up for extra training with the Headmaster's Consent." Added Terry.

"And you were wondering if he taught me any neat tricks I could teach you?" I questioned.

"Guilty as charged." Chuckled Harry.

"I might be able to teach you something. A spell to protect against the elements that also serves as a basic defense against Heat, Cold, and Electric-based spells. Will that do?" I queried.

"Wicked! That should do fine." Grinned Terry.

"Yeah, that'd be brilliant. We've got a few spells we can trade you too." Nodded Harry.

"If you lot are gonna do that, do it over there. I'm trying to get that shield going, you know." Huffed Ron.

"Right, sorry Mate. come on." I apologized.

Then I took Harry and Terry off to the side to begin teaching them the Feachd Lomadh Spell. They got it down in an hour of practice and traded me a pair of attack spells for it. Fittingly enough, they were two, basic, direct attack spells that would have been defended against by the defensive spell I'd just taught them. The Spark Charm, which had the incantation Scintilla and used the wand movements of a zig-zag motion and point, conjured a small bolt of electricity that could shock an opponent. That was from Harry, who'd found it in a book in the Hogwarts Library, Seven Shocking Spells for Students of Sorcery by Hieronymous Rookwood. Terry, meanwhile, taught me another spell he'd gotten from Anthony Goldstein, the Flametongue Spell, which had the Incantation of Lahava and a wand movement of a swish and then pointing at your mouth. The result was that you were granted the ability to breathe fire up to three times, giving you a literal flaming tongue.

The remainder of the Cross-House Study Group was taken up by helping our newest member get started on Occlumency. Alicia Spinnet, third-year Gryffindor, and one of the Gryffindor Quidditch Chasers had offered a few rare charms to the Group that she learned from her Mother, who was the daughter of immigrants from Magical Libya, and thus knew a few spells that most in Magical Britain didn't. Alicia seemed friendly enough and was completely willing to learn from me, despite me being two years younger than she was and a Slytherin to boot.

"Why not? You're the expert, and Katie says you're an all-right bloke." She'd shrugged when I asked.

She proved to be a good student too, with a natural knack for Occlumency. She got my lessons down fast and was at the point where she could continue the exercises on her own without my supervision by the time the Study Group wrapped up. The only ones I'd ever seen get to that point so quickly were Harry, who seemed to practically bleed natural talent, and Hermione, who was probably the smartest person I knew.

At any rate, once the Study Group wrapped up, I headed back to the Slytherin Dorms to head to sleep. That night, I dreamed of a portent of tomorrow's quidditch game. It seemed to progress much the same as it had in canon, right up until the part where Hermione and Ron had intervened. This time, because of how Halloween had played out, there was nothing pointing to Snape suspiciously for them. That meant no fire to stop Quirrel. Which meant that Snape was on his own with the counter-curse to Quirrel's Broom Curse.

I watched as Snape tried and failed to counter Quirrel's Broom Curse, as Voldemort's Possessing Spirit lent its magic to Quirrel's. Harry was thrown off his broom to plummet down onto the Quidditch Pitch Below, breaking his neck in the fall. Just as I heard the snapping noise of Harry's neck breaking on the ground, I awoke from my portentous dream.

Looking over at the clock, I saw that it was six in the morning on the day of the First Quidditch Match of the Year, the Slytherin-Gryffindor Match. Gritting my teeth, I realized that it looked like I would have to intervene myself to prevent Harry from falling to his death today. That meant actually going to the Quidditch Match, which I had been hoping to beg off from after the Trolls had beaten me up on Halloween.

Getting out of bed, I resigned myself to going in order to help Harry and headed for the shower. . .

XXXX

AN: All right, so here we have the next chapter. It's a bit timeskippy, in order to get to the Quidditch Match, but Blaise did learn a lot and even managed to socialize some, even with Magnus Gamp putting him through extra make-up training.

As you probably guessed by now, Millie is the Unrequited Love option from the CYOA. Her Schoolgirl Crush on Blaise turned into an actual thing thanks to Blaise literally saving her life from the Trolls. I still don't plan to show any relationship stuff until Goblet of Fire at least, so don't get your hopes up if you're a shipper.

At any rate, the next chapter will be the Quidditch Match.

Stay tuned. . .