Chapter 11

I woke up Monday and realized I didn't have to be at Class this early in the morning thanks to my new schedule. Instead, I focused on training. The first order of business today would be to learn the Sonorus Charm for potential modification according to the principles laid out in the Principia Arcana. That, in turn, required a trip to the library as the Charm wasn't a part of the First Year Curriculum in either Charms or Defense. I headed up the stairs to the ground floor, stopping briefly to say hello to my friends in the Great Hall and grab a bit of breakfast.

"You don't have your books, why do you not have your books, shouldn't you have them for Charms?" Questioned Hermione, as I stopped by the Ravenclaw Table.

"He's getting private tutoring. Apparently, he's advanced enough that where we are in the class now isn't a good use of his time." Pointed out Terry.

"How do you know that? How could that happen? I'm just as smart as Blaise is, why don't I get private tutoring?" Demanded Hermione in rapid-fire.

Terry simply sipped at his glass of orange juice, making Hermione fume at being forced to wait for answers. An angry Hermione was a Hermione that plotted vengeance, however. She may be a stickler for the rules, but she was still the girl who set Snape on Fire at a quidditch match when she thought he was cursing Harry's broom. I decided to forestall any potential vengeance Terry had coming by answering her while he drained his glass.

"In order, he probably knows that because Daphne told him, it doesn't usually happen because people don't usually come to Hogwarts having so much prior tutoring, and you didn't get it because you didn't have any tutoring in magic before coming to Hogwarts to show off." I answered.

"Fine, spoil my fun." Grumbled Terry as I pre-empted his little prank.

"I saved you possible vengeance later. Hermione is a girl, and you know what they say about women scorned, mate." I offered.

"I don't think it's usually meant that way, mate." Huffed Terry.

"Regardless of any potential vengeance, and really Terry that wasn't very nice, your private classes are really just because you had prior tutoring?" Queried Hermione.

"Yeah, it's not a crack at your intelligence and it isn't something normally done. My mom was kind of a stickler for making sure I could handle myself. She had a lot of enemies. Not that it mattered in the end, I suppose." I responded.

"Oh. I suppose I didn't think about it like that." Frowned Hermione, eyes full of compassion.

"Don't worry about it, 'Mione. I'm working through my grief over it at my own pace. The point is, it's unique circumstances." I waved off.

"'Mione?" Asked Hermione.

"It's a nickname for you I came up with. I'm trying out nicknames for all my mates." I explained.

"Oh. We're mates?" Questioned Hermione, voice tinged with hope. She really didn't have many friends before Hogwarts, huh? My heart broke for her 'cause that sucked.

"Of course we are, and don't ever forget it." I nodded.

"Then I think 'Mione is fine." Beamed Hermione.

"What about me?" Queried Terry.

"Terry is already a nickname, Terrence." I grinned, emphasizing his full given name.

"Right. Should've expected that. A word of caution, if you start calling Daphne Daph, she might hex you." Cautioned Terry.

"Noted. Speaking of, I should go say good morning to her, but if you guys feel like getting together this evening before dinner, I'm thinking of starting up a study group to help folks out who might be struggling and I could use a Ravenclaw's Eye-View on the subject." I offered,

"That sounds brilliant, I'll be there!" Grinned Hermione.

"Not me, I've promised Anthony I'd help him with a charm he's been trying out this evening. If you do wind up putting together that study group, though, let me know, yeah?" Refused Terry.

"Will do. Later." I nodded before heading over to the Slytherin Table.

There wasn't much to do here, except say good morning and grab a bit of eggs on toast and a cup of tea. Nobody here had anything new to say since last night, and why would they? It hadn't been that long, though I did mention the possible Study Group. Daphne made a suggestion that was actually fairly neat, which entailed having people who wanted to learn contribute stuff of their own to the study group. I mentioned that was a good plan and then she said that she and Tracey would be there if it was implemented. Millie said she'd be interested regardless. Other than that, however, it was mostly small talk. The same held true when I popped over to Hufflepuff to talk to Susan and Hannah and let them know about the possible study group. Susan and Hannah both said they would be interested either way. It wasn't until I approached the Gryffindor table to try and tell Neville that anything more than small talk occurred.

"What do you want, Zabini?" Demanded Ron Weasley, blocking me from talking to Neville.

"I'm here to invite Neville to a potential cross-house Study Group. The idea is that if we each contribute something we're good at or something unique that we know but others might, we can all get stronger together." I offered.

"What's the catch? Sounds like a scam where you give out bad advice while stealing folks' knowledge for yourself." Scowled Ron.

"Ron, I'm being sincere here. There's no scam, just an honest trade." I sighed.

"Right, pull the other one. Everyone knows you Snakes are always out for yourselves." Scoffed Ron.

"All right, I can't deal with it. I come here in good faith, I try to be friendly, yet you keep acting like such a prat! I don't even know why! Was it something I did?" I demanded, angrily.

At that moment, Percy Weasley arrived to take his brother aside. Down the table, the Weasley Twins looked at each other, then at Ron, and made their way over. I steeled myself for another argument only to be pleasantly surprised at that not being the case.

"This is our fault." Admitted Fred.

"Yeah, we may have told ickle Ronniekins a few more things about your mum that aren't strictly true." Added George.

"It was all supposed to be in good fun, you know? Keep him away from people like Malfoy." Intoned Fred.

"Only we've been watching you for a bit now and you've been downright un-Malfoylike." Continued George.

"Quite so, brother of mine. Blaise here's been making friends with Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. He's even tried making friends with some of us." Agreed Fred.

"Only Ickle Ronniekins has been a git about the whole thing in the common room so you're not getting anywhere." Responded George.

"For that, we can only apologize." Offered Fred.

"We'll talk with our brother later. It'll stick better coming from us than from Perfect Percy over there." Nodded George.

"Brilliant. I appreciate the apology. This whole thing has gone on for a week and that's a week too long for my liking." I grumbled.

"It's our fault, so we had to do something. If you really want to show your appreciation though, you could answer a question." Mused Fred.

"All right, I'll bite. What question?" I asked.

"How'd you know to avoid our ambush?" Questioned George.

"I'm a seer. Sometimes I get flashes of danger before it happens." I shrugged.

"Wicked! That's been bugging us for a week." Grinned Fred.

"You wouldn't happen to be able to see who's going to win the Quidditch League this year, would you? I know a bloke who'll take bets." Queried George.

"It doesn't work like that, sorry." I refuted.

"Shame." Chorused the twins at once.

Then they walked away and I headed over to invite Neville to the potential study group. Neville stumbled over his words for a bit before replying. When he did, it was with that characteristic Neville self-depreciation. I'd have to work on that if he joined. After all, Neville was my only sort of friend in Gryffindor at the moment. At least until the Twins unfuck whatever Ron fucked up like they said they would.

"I'm not sure what I could really offer to join. Everyone keeps saying I'm a rubbish Wizard, after all." Sighed Neville.

"Don't say that about yourself. In my experience when you repeat stuff like that a bunch of times, you start believing it, even if it's all nonsense. I'm sure you've got things to contribute. I've heard you're a dab hand at Herbology, for one thing." I pointed out.

"Yeah, but that's Herbology. Even Squibs can do Herbology, that's not really a proper Wizarding field of study. At least that's what my Uncle Algie always said." Frowned Neville.

"Then why do they teach it at Hogwarts as a core class?" I retorted.

That got Neville to stop doubting himself for a second as he chewed on the question. The poor guy was similar to Hermione in that he clearly hadn't had a lot of friends before, but if I remembered right, his home life was screwed up too, with his Uncle Algie tormenting him to the point where he literally chucked Neville out a window once. That alone made helping him out worth it, even if he never became anything more than good at Herbology.

I had a soft spot for the Underdogs in most situations, sue me. Personally, I blame all those movies back in my old life, before becoming Blaise.

Eventually, Neville agreed, and with that, my work here was done. Just in time, too because not five minutes later, all the plates and uneaten food vanished off the tables and the Great Hall emptied out as Breakfast came to an end. Everyone headed to their morning classes if they had them, all except for me and my tutoring exemption.

I had a Library to visit instead. . .

XXXX

I made my way to the library instead. I headed up one single flight of stairs and down a pair of corridors to reach it. I stopped by the front desk to ask about a Book containing the Sonorus Charm only to be sized up by a sallow-faced, hook-nosed, vulture of a woman dressed all in black. This was Madame Pince, the Hogwarts Librarian. Supposedly, the appearance was the result of a curse during the last war. If the Rumors were true, she'd been cursed by a family member to appear like a Scavenging Bird when the Pince Family had split down the middle in support of either Voldemort or the Ministry. I don't know if the rumors were true, but she certainly played into them with how she dressed and acted.

"The Sonorus Charm can be found in any number of tomes in the Oak Bookcases on the right side near the front of the library. If you check one out, do so quietly. While reading it, do not eat or drink anything. If you return any of my books soiled, I will know and you will not enjoy the consequences, am I understood?" Demanded Madame Pince.

"Perfectly, Madame Pince." I answered quietly. That seemed to satisfy her because she gave a short nod and I was immediately off to look through the library.

I found that the organization was done by bookcase rather than in any logical way. Each bookcase was different, made out of different woods, and carved with different designs. There was a method to the madness of the LIbrary's organizational structure, but you had to know about wood to navigate it well. Idly, I wondered if Madame Pince had done this out of spite or if she was just a devotee of Wandlore and decided this would be an interesting way to organize things. I was leaning toward the latter with the former being a supplemental bonus based on how it played into her Vulture-Lady persona. After all, each of the woods that were used for bookshelves were also woods that were used for wands.

Speaking of which, the plain oak bookcases that she had directed me toward covered a number of subjects deemed appropriate for First Years. They weren't all supplemental reading for subjects taught in classes either, as I found a number of extracurricular grimoires, history books, language books, and even a few books on basic manners and customs found in different Wizarding Nations. I picked out one of the Grimoires at Random, the title was Um Einen Ghul zu Besigen by A. Vogel. Blaise didn't have a good grasp of German, but I had been taking conversational German classes before I'd been swept up by whatever force decided that it would put me in the Wizarding World based on an online questionnaire. The title read to Defeat a Ghoul and a brief glance showed it to be a primer for beginners on how to defend yourself from the least of the Undead.

Even Zombies were more powerful than Ghouls because at least Zombies could keep going if you destroyed part of their body. Ghouls were vulnerable in a lot of the same ways that a human was. True they were stronger and faster than a normal human, but even muggles could kill one if they were skilled enough or had a gun. I didn't need this book. I reshelved the book and looked through others. Two books later, one that turned out to be a Latin Dictionary and the other which turned out to be a book on minor defensive charms written in Middle English, I found what I was looking for.

Magick Moste Methful was a Grimoire that looked to have been penned around the same time that Queen Elizabeth the First was in power by a wizard named Simon Tripe. It contained a number of modest, but useful, spells that could be cast 'e'en by the hand of a childe' according to the forward. One of which was the Sonorus Charm, yes, but there were also charms such as Scourgify, Spongify, Reparo, Lumos, Nox, the Ink-Concealing Charm, the Revealing Charm, Blue Sparks, Beauty Charms for Hair and Teeth, Hiccough-Curing Charms, and any number of other easy-to-learn charms.

"Good enough." I muttered.

Once I checked the book out, with Madame Pince demanding I keep it clean and return it promptly once finished, I headed out back to the Slytherin Dorms.

I had spells to learn. . .

XXXX

I returned to my room via the Grand Staircase and the Basement entrance and set to work. Some of these, like Lumos, Nox, and Reparo, I could already do, but others I couldn't. I had time to practice a few of them before I had to head to my tutoring session with Mister Gamp. I resolved to dig in accordingly and learn as much as was feasible.

Blue Sparks were easy enough. The wand motions were the same as Green and Red Sparks and the incantation was only slightly different, Azurmillious which fit the theme of the spells. Idly, I wondered if these were all variations on a basic, Sparks spell, but couldn't spend much time on that right at this moment. Instead, I got the spell down and moved on.

Scourgify was next. The wand motion was an s-like curve of the wand in the air. I was able to practice that via the simple expedient of grabbing a liter of juice from my trunk and spilling it on the floor, the sheets of my bed, the wood of my desk, the wool of my school robes, and so on. Ironically, the wool of my robes was the hardest to clean, with the metal of my potions knife being the easiest. Thankfully, I was able to get all of those down in a casting or three, depending on the difficulty, and move on to the next charm.

The Ink Concealing Charm was matched with the Revealing Charm. Te want motions were a simple point and flick, but the incantation for the first was Atramentum Occultatio and the latter was Revelio. I suppose it made a certain amount of sense. Odds were, if you had time to conceal writing, you had time for a multi-syllabic, two-word, incantation. Meanwhile, if you needed to reveal something, you might need it in a hurry so a three-syllable incantation was probably the most you could get away with in that scenario.

Next was Spongify, the wand motion was a curving, fishhook shape and the incantation was just as you see it there. To learn it, I went with the old standby that had helped me to learn Episkey, bashing my head against the wall. The first time required me to cast Episkey on myself as the spell failed to go off. The second time likewise required Episkey, but that was because I hadn't spongified the whole section of wall properly and only my torso had rammed into a softened section. The third time was the charm, literally, it seemed, as I had the entire wall section done.

Next was Clausum Stricta, the Locking Charm. This countered Alohomora and the wand motion was a closed loop. I practiced by using it on my desk drawer, my coin purse, and then by using it on my trunk. Ironically, the Trunk was the easiest, as it already had a lock to work with, the desk drawer was harder, as it needed to stick shut without a lock. Hardest was my coin purse, as not only did it not have a lock, but it was a bag with a drawstring instead of something that could be traditionally locked by mundane means. I got the trunk on the first try, the drawer on the second, and the purse took a full five tries.

By that time, I took about an hour to rest and get some lunch. The House Elves obliged my request for French Onion Soup and a can of Goblin Juice Cola, which was nice of them. Obviously, I ate it without the Grimoire open or nearby. I may know Scourgify, but I wouldn't put it past Madame Pince to be able to sense when magic has been used on something in her domain. Best not to tempt the wrath of the Vulture-Lady.

Once that was done with, I had time to practice one last spell before I would be forced to call off practice for the day until after meeting with Mister Gamp. I chose the spell I had checked out the Grimoire to learn in the first place. The Sonorus Charm was easier than some of my other attempts. I managed to get the basic casting down in a single try. The incantation and wand motion was fairly direct, Sonorus and a simple point at the target respectively. There was a reason that it was one of the first charms that people went to when they wanted to modify a spell, after all.

With that done, I finished my active spell practice for the time being and sat down to read the Principia Arcana for an hour before I had to leave to Meet up with Mister Gamp for my Charms Tutoring. It turned out that modifying spells could range from being fairly simple to being fairly hard. For example, the Sonorous modification of the Sonorus added a U to the incantation and changed the wand movement from pointing at the thing whose sound you wanted to amplify to the direction of the sonic burst you wished to throw. Other charms had to have entire words added to the incantation or completely different wand movements.

As I read, I figured that the modification of the Wand Movements for my potential infrasound spell would be the same as that for the Sonorous modification of the Sonorus, pointing my wand at the target, but it became clear early on that I would need to add a different word to the incantation. Unfortunately, that wasn't a project I had time to do right now, as I needed to head to my tutoring session. Maybe I could get it done in a few weeks, though, if I worked at it hard enough.

After all, I had taken every Charms affinity the questionnaire offered. . .

XXXX

Mister Gamp turned out to be a Wizard in his sixties wearing an old-fashioned, wizarding, suit of purple and red along with a pair of sunglasses that looked like something out of a Steampunk Western more than something you'd see in a muggle store. His hair had gone gray and was going white, but he was still considered to be solidly middle-aged as far as Wizards went. When the average lifespan of a Wizard was one-hundred-twenty years old, that sort of thing tended to happen. His craggy, bearded, face was set in a line despite his rather interestingly-colored suit, and his facial features and expression reminded me of nothing quite so much as an annoyed Ron Perlman.

"So you're Zabini, eh? I'm Magnus Gamp. Your Headmaster seems to think you've got what it takes to go through accelerated coursework. I've got to say, I was intrigued to hear that, especially since he thinks you can handle three subjects worth of accelerated coursework." Rumbled the Man, Magnus Gamp.

"I am, Sir. Both Zabini and Ready." I replied.

"That remains to be seen. Follow me." Commanded Magnus Gamp.

I did so, following him out to the Training Grounds, where a series of objects were laid out. Targets, I realized, for spells. Hollow clay blocks for Wingardium Leviosa, posts for Diffindo, trunks for Alohomora, torches for Incendio, swaying flower pots for Flipendo, Cauldrons plus Ingredients for Potions, and more all laid out around the area. I guess this was why they called it the Training Grounds.

"You'll show me what you can do here. We'll do the same with Defense and Potions. If I'm satisfied, then I'll teach you." Intoned Magnus Gamp.

"I thought you already agreed to teach me?" I asked.

"No, I agreed to see if you were able to handle it if Dumbledore asked. I never agreed to teach you, not until you prove you're worth teaching." Retorted Magnus Gamp.

"That's a bit disingenuous. Does the Headmaster know about this?" I questioned.

"Please. If Dumbledore could get caught out in me using exact wording against him then maybe he's as senile as he pretends to be." Scoffed Magnus Gamp.

I had to acknowledge that point. Turning to the targets, I frowned. The goal of this was to impress him. Something told me that just casting spells one by one wouldn't do that. I had to show a bit of creativity in my casting, a little cunning would go a long way here.

"Is there any particular order you'd like me to start with?" I queried.

"This is your time. Do whatever you feel is necessary to show that you're worth the training." Shrugged Magnus Gamp.

With that in mind, I settled on a pattern. If I knew a spell plus the counter-charm, or a spell that could work as a countercharm, I'd cast those in sequence. I started by casting Lumos on the Torch, followed by Nox, then a Finite Incantatem, before finishing up with an Incendio on the torch. I then moved onto the chest, hitting it with the locking charm, then the unlocking charm, before using Flipendo on the lid to knock it open. Then I used Wingardium Leviosa to levitate one of the blocks into the chest, hitting the bottom of the chest with the softening charm first to avoid the clay from breaking. I cut the post in half with a Diffindo before using Reparo to repair the post and Fumos to shroud the post in a smokescreen before cutting through the smoke with red, green, and blue sparks.

On and on I went, demonstrating spells in as creative and cunning a manner as I could before moving on to the potions. By the time I was finished, afternoon had faded into evening and the last rays of the sun had fallen below the horizon. Fortunately, there were multiple cauldrons for the potions that I flitted between, otherwise, I would have been out here well into dinnertime. As it was, I finished with a bit over an hour to spare. Magnus Gamp checked my various potions before nodding in satisfaction.

"All right, you've convinced me. Meet me here tomorrow for your scheduled session and we can begin actually teaching you." Grunted Magnus Gamp.

"Yes, Sir." I nodded.

"Dismissed!" Snapped Magnus Gamp.

I couldn't help it, I practically jumped for joy as I headed for the Rendezvous with Hermione to talk about the potential cross-house study group. She wasn't too pleased to see me, though I couldn't for the life of me figure out why.

I was only an hour late, after all. . .

XXXX

As it happened, Hermione agreed that the entry fee being helping out with unique knowledge would be an interesting price, but that it seemed to be designed to exclude Muggleborn Students. It wasn't until I told her that the Muggleborn Students also had things to contribute that I seemed to be making any headway with her. For instance, I mentioned that the Scientific Method seemed to be a good way to approach magical experimentation, at least. I also mentioned languages as an acceptable price.

That seemed to hook her and combined with the fact that I had mentioned that Daphne and Tracey refused to attend if there wasn't some real benefit to them joining, that seemed to tip her over the edge into accepting. We then planned out the specifics, at least in the generalities, and scheduled our first meeting for next Saturday evening after dinner in the Old Art Classroom on the Fifth Floor which hadn't been in use for a few years, as the Arts Club had moved classrooms to the Roomier Room One-Oh-Two, which had previously been used for supplemental herbology lessons, but which hadn't been used for such since before the Last War.

With that, we headed off to Dinner where I informed everyone about the time, place, and price for joining the Study Group. Neville was bringing his herbology knowledge, Susan was bringing a few introductory Combat Charms, Hannah was bringing a few Household Charms, Daphne was bringing a suite of various non-standard potions along with training in Pureblood Manners and Comportment, while Tracey agreed to provide Transfiguration Advice, Hermione would provide the Scientific Method, Basic Research Methodology, and French Lessons, while Terry agreed to Provide a few Charms for use in dueling, and Millie agreed to provide Duelling Charms gained from her Grandad.

My own contributions were more varied, Potions, Occlumency Training, Charms, both utility and dueling related, and the Italian Language. The moment the word Occlumency left my mouth, however, people honed in on the group.

By the time dinner ended, we got interest from several other people in Ravenclaw, where Morag MacDougal agreed to show up with various Highland Charms and Basic Ogham Rune Lore, Hufflepuff, where Ernie Macmillan agreed to provide some Basic Wand Lore, and even in Gryffindor, where we even managed to get another firm commitment. That being Parvati Patil, who agreed to bring knowledge of Indian Alchemy, though she stressed she only knew the general theory as regarded things that weren't cosmetics.

We got less firm commitments from Padma Patil and Sue Li in Ravenclaw, Lavender Brown from Gryffindor, Wayne Hopkins from Hufflepuff, and Sophie Roper from my own House of Slytherin. They all said they might show up, though I wasn't counting on that or on them to stay with it if they did. Padma Patil and Su Li might work out, but Lavender Brown was apparently known for being flighty, Wayne Hopkins might bail if he thought that people weren't taking him seriously, and Sophie Roper would likely join only so long as she felt she was getting something out of the deal.

By the time I went to bed that night, everything had slotted into place nicely. Unfortunately, the Sight decided to choose that moment to hit me with a prophetic dream.

As I slept, I was treated to visions of dead friends. . .

XXXX

It was Halloween, and I was running through a corridor, I could smell Trolls up ahead, multiple of them. There was a scream that sounded like Millie from a nearby classroom, I burst in to find not one, but two trolls. I got the attention of one with some clever spellwork and the Dead Moment, but just as I engaged that one, the Second's club fell down and pulped Millie's chest.

There was a flash and suddenly, I was walking down a corridor at a normal pace. The me in the vision was a little older than I was now and I was walking with Daphne and Tracey and talking about something indistinct and garbled through the medium of dreams. It was as we turned a corner that the scene of horror revealed itself. Hermione, petrified as if turned to stone, and next to her, lying on the floor dead, was Terry, his shoulder pierced through as if by a blade and the wound sizzling with acrid venom. Hermione would get better with Mandrake, Terry was gone. There is no cure for Basilisk Venom, after all.

Another flash, another year older, Dementors on the Hogwarts Grounds. The warm air of late spring turning suddenly chill as the Dementors slipped their leash. Off in the distance, in the middle of the forbidden forest, a flash of bright light appeared, driving away a group of Dementors, though not the whole of the group. I was stuck battling a pair, driving them away from Hannah with an indistinct Patronus. There was a screech and an intake of breath behind me and I turned to see that Susan had sent her Patronus off to help Daphne and Tracey. Without it nearby, she'd been caught by a Dementor. I turned to direct my own Patronus at the Dementor too slowly, it leaned down to Susan's Face and kissed her. Susan's Patronus winked out as she flopped to the ground, Soul Eaten.

Another flash, the Triwizard Tournament. I was watching from inside the competitor's tent as Fleur Delacour tried to bamboozle her Dragon during the first task with an enchanted song. There was a whisper nearby as my Natural Leglimency informed me that the Dragon's Mind had been taken over and guided into throwing off the song. A tail swipe from the Dragon smashed into Fleur even as the Dragon roared and spat flames into the stands. The attendants managed to douse most of the flames quickly, but not quickly enough for Hermione who had been leaning over the railing her sharp intake of breath as she backed away from the rush of Dragonfire caused her to breathe in superheated air, collapsing her lungs. She was dead before she could be rushed to a medic.

More flashes, more scenes of carnage, more dead friends appeared in my dreams. One after another, after another. Daphne dead in the middle of Diagon Alley, a warning to those who would side against the Dark Lord, Tracey mauled by a werewolf, her throat torn out as a lesson to others, Neville dead by Voldemort's own Hand while the rest of Hogwarts looked on. Friend after friend, dead in various horrific ways. Finally, a message burned through my dreaming mind.

"You can't save them all." It said.

Then I woke up in a cold sweat, the sounds of a normal school morning entering my ears from the common room outside. . .

XXXX

AN: So here's the first day of the second week of classes. I know I said I'd amalgamate Monday and Tuesday, but this chapter is already over five thousand words long and if I stretched it further, then it would easily clear nine thousand by the time I was finished. That's a lot for anyone to read in one sitting, fanfiction-wise. Now that I think about it, it's unlikely that I'll be able to roll the first Study Group meeting into a time-skippy chapter either.

Besides, a lot of things happened in this one. He met Magnus Gamp, started the Cross-House Study Group, and even received a Prophetic dream of Doom. Given how he took the drawback that one of his friends would die in the CYOA, that dream is more real than he thinks. He can't save them all, someone is going to die, it's just a question of who, not that Blaise is willing to accept that.

At any rate, the next chapter will be Tuesday of the Second Week of Classes, then we'll have a time-skippy chapter to the first Study Group Meeting, before timeskipping to the first week of October.

Stay tuned. . .