Chapter 6

Today was one of two days that we had two classes, though our second class wasn't until nighttime, owing to the subject matter being Astronomy. Our first class of the day was Double Herbology with the Hufflepuffs, while Astronomy would be combined with all forty-three first-year students in the Astronomy Tower. I wasn't sure how forty-three kids, plus telescopes and a teacher would fit in a single tower, but then, there was probably some magic involved in making the tower bigger on the inside or something to that effect.

For now, I worked on breakfast. Tea and eggs-on-toast were my usual go-to breakfast, as I normally slept too late for anything larger. However, today was different. I'd woken up earlier than normal thanks to a bad feeling stirring me from my sleep at seven in the morning. The premonition, because that's what it turned out to be, allowed me to catch an attempt by Draco Malfoy to surreptitiously enter my dorm room while I was sleeping.

I'd literally caught him red-handed with some sort of glove on his hand as he tried to open my door, opening the door myself and nodding at him.

"Can I help you, Malfoy?" I questioned.

The look on his face was priceless as he scrambled for a face-saving excuse that wouldn't see him lose standing. He wound up muttering something about asking to borrow a book on potions to read ahead for Friday's double potions class with Gryffindor. I lent him my copy of Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger. I had two copies, after all, one which had been annotated by my mother during her time at Hogwarts with a number of tips and tricks. I gave Malfoy my newly purchased copy and he went away, assured he hadn't just been caught trying to make his way into my room to mess with me.

Regardless, the interruption had meant I'd arrived at the Great Hall with plenty of time for a full breakfast. This time, I intended to take advantage, requesting bangers and mash plus scrambled eggs with my morning tea. The House Elves obliged, a plate of sausages and mashed potatoes with onion gravy appeared in front of me alongside a smaller plate of scrambled eggs and a mug of English breakfast tea.

"Thought you'd be more of a coffee person. What with how you were raised and all." Mentioned Millie as she sat down.

"Most Italians are. I never could stand the stuff, though. Too bitter, even with all the sugar, milk, and foam that my mother tried to put in it to get me to drink it." I shrugged.

"Interesting. So, you knew about the Defense and Charms assignments. Are you ahead on Herbology as well?" Queried Daphne from across the table. She was working on a Belgian waffle with precise movements of fork and knife.

"Only in the sense that I used to help my mother in her garden sometimes. It's practically required for certain ingredients to be homegrown with some of the potions she would brew. After all, the Ministry has certain restrictions on imports of things like Lamb of Tartary Stalks which my mother used for a few of her creations. It makes constantly buying ingredients for those more expensive than simply growing your own." I shrugged.

"Huh, you know I was sort of hoping we could just crib off you all year." Mused Tracey, going at a stack of flapjacks.

"Afraid not. Most of my expertise is in defense, charms, and potions. I have some knowledge of Astronomy, but that's not really related to anything more than being able to locate certain stars and planetary bodies with my telescope. The theory behind how seasons affect rituals and the effects of planetary bodies on various magical things is something I'll be learning alongside all of you, the same as taking care of any plants my mother didn't have in her garden or practically all of transfiguration." I shrugged, before biting into a sausage.

"You know, it probably seems a bit daft of me to say this, but I'm actually relieved." Huffed Millie, working her way through a rasher of bacon.

"Oh? Why's that?" I asked as I took a forkful of mashed potatoes.

"You haven't noticed how many silver points you have already, have you?" Shot back Daphne.

"Not especially. I don't really have anything I need to spend them on yet, after all." I shrugged.

"You're up to thirty already, and we've only had three days at Hogwarts." Pointed out Tracey.

I blinked at that. I really hadn't checked silver points since the first day. If I had thirty points already, that was ten off some of the mid-tier prizes that I'd been looking at, like the Hogsmeade Weekend Exemption Pass which would allow me to partake in a Hogsmeade Weekend Trip even as a first-year. Mind you, I had planned to use that to buy some grimoires and potion ingredients for my own use and experimentation, rather than to go out and have a good time, though naturally, I'd stop in at Honeydukes while I was out.

"Interesting. I really hadn't checked. Is that a lot comparatively speaking?" I questioned.

"The person with the next-most is Draco Malfoy and he only has seventeen." Pointed out Millie.

"Oh, I see." I muttered.

"Indeed. I understand where Millie is coming from. It's nice to know you're not better than the rest of us at everything." Sniffed Daphne.

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I'm rubbish with magical creatures. I always seem to rile them up whenever I try handling them. It never ends well." I offered.

"What? But you found Longbottom's toad on the train and everything?" Frowned Tracey.

"That was me using the Sight to locate Trevor. I didn't actually go anywhere near him personally." I pointed out.

"Wait, so you never had any pets growing up?" Questioned Millie.

"No. Not only would it not be a good idea to have anything that wasn't completely non-magical as a pet, but my mother wouldn't have an animal in her home." I shrugged.

"So you can handle muggle animals, but not wizarding ones?" Pressed Daphne.

"It's just how my life worked out. The only animals I could have as a pet require me to risk breaking the statute to obtain one." I nodded.

"That's a bad hand to be dealt. I don't know what I'd do without Horace." Frowned Millie.

"What's a Horace?" Queried Tracey.

"Horace is my Grandad's Kneazle. He's this little ball of white fluff that's just so affectionate." Answered Millie.

Then she reached into her robes and pulled out a wizarding photograph that showed a white Persian-style Kneazle cuddling a sitting Millie and purring. The Photo Version of Millie was stroking the Kneazle's fur gently whilst seated on a high-backed leather chair. The whole scene made me think of Ernst Stavro Blofeld by way of Doctor Evil. Not that those were references that anyone would get. Muggle movies and all, plus the first Austin Powers movie was still six years in the future, assuming that anyone even deigned to watch Muggle movies.

"It's just how things turned out, Millie. Que sera, sera." I shrugged.

Soon afterward, the conversation turned to other topics, such as various brands of cosmetic potions, and I tuned the girls out and focused on my breakfast instead. Such was the peril of having a friend group that was mostly female. Sometimes conversations turned to chick stuff. By the time they were done, the rest of the House had made their way down to breakfast. Draco kept shooting me furtive looks whenever he thought I wasn't looking, giving me the side-eye.

"You realize he's probably going to put some sort of Jinx on that book you lent him, right?" Asked Daphne, leaning over to whisper the question.

"Let him. I gave him the book because I don't need the copy." I responded back in a hushed tone.

Just as we finished up breakfast, however, there was a large chorus of screeching as the post owls arrived, swooping down into the great hall to deliver mail and packages. It was another of the reasons I didn't tend to come down to breakfast early and chose to sleep in instead. I'd just finished my tea and put down the empty mug when a large, long-eared, speckled, gold and brown, Owl swooped down toward Daphne with a bundle of letters in its claws, passing over me as it did so. As it passed over me, it shat into my now-empty tea mug, which was fairly par for the course for me and magical animals.

"Adeline! Be nice!" Hissed Daphne as the Owl landed on her shoulder.

Instead of heeding her presumable mistress, however, the Owl simply squawked and me warningly before offering Daphne the bundle of letters tied to her leg. Fortuitously, when the empty, shat-in, mug disappeared, it was replaced with a different mug filled with different tea. I knew it was a completely different mug thanks to the last one having been a plain white mug while this one was a red mug with a winking elf face painted on it.

"Thank you." I nodded to the Hogwarts Elves, invisible though they may be.

As Daphne took the letters and fed her Owl, Adeline, a piece of bacon, scratching under her beak, I took a sip of the fresh mug of tea. Adeline chose this moment to squawk and take off once again, done being affectionate with Daphne. As she flew off, she buzzed me, forcing me to duck and sending English Breakfast Tea down the wrong pipe. Sputtering and coughing as I put the mug down on the table, Tracey looked over at me.

"You know, I've never seen Adeline act like that. She's usually very affectionate." Mused Tracey. As I got my coughing under control, I nodded back at Tracey.

"It's my curse." I intoned, clearing my throat.

"Well, at least now I understand why you're always so late to breakfast." Grinned Millie.

Malfoy, on the other hand, looked highly amused at my troubles. By the time we headed to class, I could just tell that my issues with Magical Creatures would be well-known throughout the school. As we pressed on toward Herbology, I saw Malfoy whispering about it to a few Ravenclaws who were exiting the Great Hall along with us. Oh, well, there was nothing I could do about that now. I'd just have to deal with any mocking that came of it.

Herbology, as it turned out, was held in one of the numerous Greenhouses on the Hogwarts Grounds. The school, it seemed, grew potion ingredients of its own as a way to both help teach herbology as well as cut down on costs related to supplying seven years' worth of potions classes. This particular greenhouse was the one nearest to the castle proper, while the Seventh Year Greenhouse was the furthest away, near the boundary of the Forbidden Forest. In fact, the only official part of the Hogwarts Grounds that was closer to the Forest than the Seventh Year Herbology Greenhouse was Hagrid's Hut, the field where he would teach his Care of Magical Creatures Class, and the plot of land where the Thestral Barn was.

Regardless, the First Year Greenhouse was much closer to the castle. It practically abutted against the castle's outer wall. We entered to find a veritable farmer's field, with rows on rows of soil just waiting to be planted, alongside shelves with various plants and gardening equipment on them. Standing in the middle of it all, waiting for us, was Professor Sprout.

Professor Sprout herself was a short, plump, older witch with gray, wavy hair tucked underneath a patched-over hat. The edges of the patch in her hat seemed to suggest something had taken a bite out of it, my money was on a Chinese Chomping Cabbage. Her robes were earth tones of brown and tan, and had grass stains and dirt on them, though she seemed quite cheery for all that.

"Come in, come in, First Years! Welcome to Herbology! I trust you all have your gloves, yes?" Smiled Professor Sprout.

I nodded and pulled on the pair of Dragonhide Gloves that had been specified in the school supplies memorandum as I did so. Professor Sprout then launched into a bit of a lecture on the class as a whole and what we would be doing today, which was to partner up and begin planting Dittany, going over the various requirements to properly plant and care for such an herb.

I immediately found Susan and partnered with her as we headed over to the various shelves. I selected a plant that had large leaves which seemed like they would be optimal for shredding. Shredded Dittany was a key ingredient in the Wiggenweld Potion, after all. As I made my way back over toward where Susan was beginning to dig a hole for us to plant our shrub in, Professor Sprout spoke up.

"Mister Zabini? I wonder why you picked that particular plant. Could you tell me?" Questioned Professor Sprout.

"Shredded Dittany is a key ingredient in the Wiggenweld Potion, this shrub looked like its leaves were large enough to be shredded fairly easily, so. . ." I trailed off, shrugging.

"You have a good eye for potion ingredients. Five points to Slytherin for a good selection. Be careful, though, dearie. The same property you picked out might also cause damage to the plant if planted carelessly." Cautioned Professor Sprout, before going into a lecture on the healing properties of Dittany.

Fortunately, it seemed that Susan actually helped out in her aunt's Garden on a more permanent basis than I had with my Mother's Garden. Not only that, but she was apparently an old hand at planting and tending Dittany. Given her Aunt's position as Head of the DMLE, I could see where having access to a lot of Dittany that you didn't need to pay for would be useful. Alone, I might have caused some damage to the leaves, but with Susan's help, we managed to get the Dittany shrub planted with no damage fairly easily.

"Well done, Miss Bones. Five Points to Hufflepuff for having such a green thumb!" Called out Professor Sprout.

"Seriously, Susan, you have a gift for Herbology to match your gift for charms, it seems." I praised.

"Howay man, you're making me blush here." Waved off Susan, embarrassed.

"No, I mean it. I probably would have damaged one or more of the leaves without your help." I insisted.

"Aye? Well, you're Canny at a lot of stuff, so I'm glad I could help out with this." Blushed Susan.

"I appreciate it. You know, it seems like we make a good enough team with Herbology that we could probably help out a couple of our friends. It looks like Daphne and Tracey need help, and Hannah and whoever that Brown-haired guy she's partnered with looks like they picked a plant that is taking a while to dig a hole for." I pointed out.

"That's Wayne Hopkins, he's a half-blood from Bristol. He likes boats, a lot. If you go help out him and Hannah, I'll help out Daphne and Tracey." Offered Susan.

"Deal." I agreed.

As it turned out, my help got Wayne and Hannah's jumbo-sized Dittany Shrub planted by the time the practical portion of Class was up. Susan, meanwhile, had helped out Daphne and Tracey before moving on to helping Millie and Megan Jones. Megan was a Welsh Half-blood Brunette who I knew from the fact that her Uncle Floyd Jones, who was fairly high up in the Spirit Division of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, had been one of my Mother's more ardent admirers before she'd died. Not that the man had come to the funeral at all or anything, though given my Mother's track record with Husbands, I could admit that he'd likely dodged a bullet there.

"Wonderful! Five points to both Slytherin and Hufflepuff for being willing to help your year-mates!" Called out Professor Sprout, before going into another lecture about how to care for Dittany once it had been planted. It turned out, that watering the leaves was actually a bad choice and could kill the plant. The trick was to water the soil the plant was planted in, instead. I'd never have guessed that on my own.

By the time class was over, I felt like I'd actually learned something, which was what you wanted out of a class. I had the rest of the day until ten at night to my own devices, which meant that I was free to do a bit of reading of my own. I headed to my dorm to read one of the books I had inherited from my Grandfather, pulling out the Copy of Zorian's Notes that had been painstakingly translated into Italian from the original Byzantine Greek by my ancestor, the Wizarding Scholar Federico Zabini, in the eighteen-forties.

The forward that Fedrico Zabini had written was largely a summary of the sorts of abilities that could be obtained by doing the exercises in this book. The list was staggering and included not just exercises to further Leglimancy and Occlumancy to levels that would make modern masters of the Mind Arts weep, but also things like Psychometry, Telekinesis, Postcognition, Battle Precognition, Astral Projection, Remote Viewing, Mediumship, and the ability to modify your senses and mental faculties to varying extents, among other things.

That Modification of Mind and Senses was even more of a game-changer than the rest of it. One of the examples of a minor modification that was listed was the ability to modify your senses to be able to smell poison, even if that poison was considered odorless. And that was just a single enhancement of a single sense, that required only a little modification. With this, it was possible to overclock your brain to give a sort of bullet-time mode, remove the mental limiters placed on the human body to act with superhuman speed or strength, stimulate your mind's ability to understand language to be able to read, write, speak, and understand any language, modify your sense of sight to see the invisible or even see magic, and even be capable of possessing other beings mentally.

That last one was something I refused to use on principle. It was too close to full-on mind control, which was apparently also a thing this book could teach. I had little need to Imperius people in ways that didn't actually use the Imperius Curse, though a lesser form of it like the Jedi Mind Trick might be handy to use if I really needed to. If the Jedi could use it without falling to the Dark Side, I figured that much would be safe, but fully dominating someone's mind seemed a little too sketchy for my liking.

Still, it was all quite interesting. For now, though, I would settle for starting the exercises to further my Occlumency and Leglimency, while also starting the exercises geared toward learning Remote Viewing. I figured being able to view different parts of the castle could only help me avoid things like Malfoy's various plots, after all. Those exercises all varied in length and content aside from the very first step of each one which was to clear and order your mind via meditation. Setting an alarm clock to go off in time for dinner, I sat down on my bed and got to work.

By the time my alarm rang several hours later, my Occlumency and Leglimancy had made real progress, though being a Natural Leglimens meant that my progress there was more advanced than my progress in Occlumency by half again the amount of progress I had made there. Not only that, I was capable of using meditation to view other rooms remotely, though at the moment I needed absolute quiet and tranquility just to be able to view rooms adjacent to the one I was currently in. I got the feeling that being a Seer and Natural Leglimens helped me pick it up to even that rudimentary level and that if I weren't either of those, I wouldn't even have gotten that far in one session. It was going to take a while for me to get good at it all, but I felt confident.

Showering and changing into fresh robes, I headed down to dinner. Blessedly, this meal was free of Owls and their attitude towards me, though Malfoy couldn't help but sneer at me as I arrived. Rolling my eyes, a glass of Otter's Fizzy Orange Juice appeared as I sat down, along with a bowl of hearty Minestra Maritata. I grinned at that since that was one of my favorite soups and dug in.

"Who's getting married?" Queried Millie.

"Pardon?" I asked.

"That's Italian Wedding Soup, yes? You're Italian, isn't eating that soup some sort of wedding custom?" Pressed Millie.

"You know, I forgot that it's called that in the Anglosphere. It's not called that because it's a soup served at weddings. Minestra Maritata doesn't mean Wedding Soup it means Wedded Soups. That's because it's a vegetable and a meat soup at the same time." I grinned.

"Oh? That's actually neat to learn. I don't think any of us were ever taught Italian." Blinked Millie.

"I know French if that counts?" Questioned Daphne.

"No, no it does not." I refuted.

"Don't look at me, my Dad's indiscretion meant my family wasn't going to spend any more effort tutoring me than they absolutely had to to avoid even more of a loss of face." Shrugged Tracey.

"Hey, Daphne? How would you feel about an exchange of favors? I'll teach you Italian if you teach me French?" I offered.

"I've actually been waiting for someone to approach me for an exchange of favors. Do you know that no one has yet? I'll take that deal, I saw the book you were reading in the dueling club was written in Italian, so it occurs to me that learning that language might be useful for more than just conversation." Grinned Daphne.

"Che Figo! Meet Sunday?" I smiled back.

"Bon. Sunday then." Nodded Daphne.

"If we're doing an exchange of favors, I might ask for help with Potions. You said you've had prior lessons with that, and I'm not exactly very good with Potions. I can trade you some of my Grandad's Dueling Spells. He's got loads and I'm sure he'd be willing to part with a few." Hedged Millie.

"I can do that." I nodded.

"I can offer help with Transfiguration. My dad taught me a few things, even if the rest of the family wouldn't deign to." Offered Tracey.

"What did you have in mind for a trade?" I queried.

"I want help learning Occlumency. I know you're an Occlumens, I heard Professor Snape mention it to the Headmaster." Intoned Tracey.

"I see. You get that Occlumency isn't exactly something normally taught at our age, right? I only know it because my Mother insisted on teaching me as part of ensuring that her enemies couldn't get to her through me. Not that it helped her in the end all that much." I frowned. Before I could start to wallow about my dead mother, Tracey immediately replied in the affirmative.

"Yeah, I know. It is still something I want to learn." Insisted Tracey.

"All right, how about Friday Mornings before Double Potions with the Gryffs?" I asked.

"Done." Nodded Tracey.

As we finished Dinner, we had around two hours to kill before heading to Astronomy. I chose to spend them reading a translation of the Osmanli Hikayesi by Honorius Basilikos Black, a Scholar who had translated a number of foreign works between the end of the Necromancer's War and the start of Grindelwald's War, including a few written by my ancestor, Federico Zabini. The Osmanli Hikayesi was similar to my ancestor's La Strada Dei Re, in that it detailed the story of the formation of the Magical Sultanate of Rum, which had been the recognized government of Magical Turkey until the end of the Necromancer's War and whose successors in the Magical Republic of Turkey still controlled parts of Magical Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq, even though the Muggle Governments of those areas had long since been separated.

It was an interesting read, or at least it had been up until Malfoy had to interject. I had just gotten to the part about the Duel at the Porsuk River between Arslan Bey, nephew of the Ottoman Sultan, Osman the First, and the Germiyanid Sorcerer-Vizier Musa Ibrahim Pasha while Osman and his army were campaigning against the Byzantines in Nicomedia when Malfoy decided to speak up.

"What's this? Reading about the Turks, are we? I suppose that's par for the course, given how much you resemble them. Pining for home in the third world, are we Zabini?" Sneered Malfoy.

Putting the book down I sighed, "I was simply reading, Malfoy. What do you want now?"

Looking up, I saw that Malfoy wasn't alone, though curiously he didn't have Crabbe and Goyle with him. Instead, Pansy Parkinson was standing next to him. The dark-haired girl had a pug nose that could have been considered cute if she weren't such an utter bitch. That was on full effect now as she seemed to back up Draco's attempt to do. . .whatever this was.

"Have you had a chance to look at the Silver Points Tallies, Zabini? You've got Thirty-five points. How did you manage that? I've only gained twenty points this whole time." Scowled Draco.

"You could try being cunning, Malfoy." I deadpanned. Clearly, my exchange of favors at dinner and helping out in Herbology had netted me another five points.

"Cunning, he says? What's so cunning about helping losers like Longbottom or Bones?" Scoffed Draco.

"Yeah, Draco, plus he's been seen in the company of half-bloods like Davis, and even that mudblood Granger! You're a hundred times more cunning than he is." Affirmed Pansy.

"Allow me to answer your question with another question. What exactly is so cunning about making enemies of every other house in school? That seems like a very good way to ensure that three-quarters of the population of Wizarding Britain hates your guts." I retorted.

"Please. Do you see any mudbloods in Slytherin? Or any half-bloods outside Davis? We're worth a dozen of Hufflepuff, Gryffindor, or Ravenclaw." Intoned Draco.

"So what, you plan to harass them all out of some sense of inborn superiority? What happens when they get fed up with you? Are you going to fight everyone on your own? That just seems like a more elaborate form of suicide to me." I shot back.

"So what's your plan? To just give away your knowledge? That seems very cunning." Snarked Pansy.

"Yes, quite right, Pansy. Zabini thinks diluting his edge is the way to go." Insulted Draco.

"If you don't understand the concept of Soft Power, Malfoy, then I'm not sure I can help you. Now piss off, I'm trying to read." I huffed.

"You think you're so clever? Fine, how about you put your galleons where your mouth is? Duel me. If you win, I'll leave you alone for the rest of the year, but if I win, you have to acknowledge me as the leader of our year of Slytherins." Demanded Malfoy.

"When and where?" I questioned.

"Saturday after dinner in the House Duelling Pit. I want our entire house to see you humbled." Smirked Draco.

"Done. Until then, piss off." I agreed.

"I can't wait to see you forced to acknowledge me in front of the whole house. A bit of public embarrassment is just what the healer ordered to knock you off your high horse." Spat Draco before turning and leaving, Pansy trailing behind him.

After that, Astronomy with Professor Sinistra was fairly tame. It turned out that the Astronomy Tower didn't have any Tardis-like Magic to it so much as it was more of an Astronomy Keep. It was just built large enough to accommodate our entire year. Professor Sinistra was also a pleasant surprise. She was a Half-Blood whose mother was one of the Neapolitan Grimaldis and whose father was a muggle-born from Nigeria. Having similar origins to my own was only part of the reason I liked her as a professor, the Olive-Robed, Mocha-Skinned, Witch was a legitimately good teacher.

As for the subject, it turned out that Astronomy was one of the subjects that were taught that focused on Ritual Magic. It was also the one that was mandatory for all students. Tonight was about the simplest of subjects, namely how the phases of the moon could affect various Lunar Rituals, with a spotlight on the Greek Ritual of Selene's Inner Flame, a Ritual that invoked the Goddess of the Moon and utilized sympathetic magic and the phases of the moon to enhance the casting of fire magic. It was all very fascinating.

 Apparently, the power of the enhancement, along with the duration of time the enhancement lasted, was affected by the phases of the moon, with a full moon allowing for the most power and lasting a full year, while the power and duration would decrease as the moon waned, from nine months and three-quarters of the full moon's power with the waning Gibbous Moon to half-power and six months at the waning half moon, to quarter power and three months at waning Crescent. The increase in power and duration for the phases of a Waxing Moon was the inverse of the Waning Moon decreases, while the Ritual was completely unworkable during the New Moon.

By the end of the class, I found that I had the knowledge I needed for the Ritual, and also that the Full Moon was tomorrow night. I pulled Millie, Daphne, Tracey, Susan, Hannah, Terry, Hermione, and Neville aside on the way back from class to make plans to conduct the ritual tomorrow night for the full moon. It would put off my ability to go to Hogsmeade for a bit, but the use of a Ritual Chamber for a single night was a perk I could Purchase for Thirty-Five Silver Points.

I got everyone's agreement on that and headed back to my Dorm. Once there, I spent another few hours looking up and practicing the Fire-Making Spell. Incendio would be another tool in my toolbox for defeating Draco in Saturday's duel. Staying up till three in the morning to do that maybe wasn't the smartest idea, but I didn't overly care.

After all, I could simply sleep in History of Magic and Professor Binns wouldn't care, or so I'd been told. . .

XXXX

AN: All right, so here we see how things went on Blaise's first Wednesday of classes. Not only did he delve into one of his CYOA Rare Tomes for the first time, but Malfoy also challenged him to a duel to be fought in the Slytherin Dueling Pit in front of the whole house. If Malfoy wins, then Blaise will be forced to acknowledge him as the leader of their year, which Malfoy has been gunning for from the start.

Mind you, Malfoy has every reason to think he'll be able to win that duel. House Malfoy's tutoring in advance of Hogwarts is on various curses, hexes, and jinxes to use in a duel, after all. Several of them could be considered dark to boot. Slytherin is the one House in Hogwarts where using Baby's First Dark Magic in a public duel isn't going to be immediate grounds for forfeit. He just doesn't know how advanced Blaise is, or that Blaise is a Seer who has a method of training Leglimancy and the Sight into Battle Precognition at his disposal.

Aside from that, I couldn't not use the big Magical Creatures Drawback for Post Owl Hijinx, so here we see how taking that drawback affects interactions with Post Owls. Suffice it to say, Blaise has his House Elf Lucia send and pick up the mail back home.

At any rate, the next chapter will go over Thursday of the First Week of Classes, which will involve transfiguration and the Ritual of Selene's Inner Flame.

Stay tuned. . .