This short story is a part of Fallocaust Short Stories: Nothing Bad Happens I Promise, but since it contains characters who do not belong to me, I didn’t want to put this short story in a book being sold for profit. So the short story is available for free here on my website.

Reaver Merrik and the Boy Who Died

SPOILERS FOR:

NOTHING THIS IS JUST PURE INSANITY

Why did he have to push this giant cart of shit if he could simply wave his wand around and magic it through that stupid, badly-named platform?

“Because you know you can’t perform magic outside of school,” Reaver’s father Greyson said to him. He was dressed in no-maj clothes, which made him look much less like a wizard and more like the dad from Full House. “Do you want to get expelled from yet another school?”

“Yes.”

Reaver got a long and hard glare for that comment.

“Why don’t you just magic at the dumb cart?” Reaver asked sarcastically, digging his feet into the cement as he tried to make the cart move faster. “You’re allowed.”

Leo then looked up from his map, Reaver’s blond second father reading it intently since King’s Cross was such a large station. “It’s actually called a trolley,” he said very matter-of-fact. “A lot of things here have different names.”

“Stupid names.”

Killian, Reaver’s boyfriend, then appeared behind him, wearing a backwards baseball hat, a letterman’s jacket, and blue jeans. “What platform are we waiting for?” he asked.

Reaver looked around, every platform was made of brick and all of them had numbers on them. It looked like they were heading between platform nine and platform ten. There were people all around them going to their destinations, most pulling suitcases or carts similar to the one that Reaver was pushing around with all of his might. None, however, seemed to look very wizardly, but then again, Reaver and his family were all dressed in no-maj clothes.

Or muggle clothes.

Stupid names.

“Nine and three-quarters,” Leo answered, and he looked around with a scowl. “It’s not here.”

No, it wasn’t there at all. Reaver sighed and leaned against the cart’s push bar; he buried his face into his arms and let out a loud groan.

Killian laughed lightly and put his arm on Reaver’s shoulder. “There has to be a way,” he said. “Hogwarts isn’t just some big prank school.”

Reaver looked up, and with narrow eyes he stared at the brick platforms, trying to will platform nine and three-quarters into existence. “What if it is?” he asked with suspicion. “What if when you get expelled from every North American magic school they just send you to Europe and they don’t let you return. Kind of like how they used to send prisoners to Australia.”

Greyson and Leo both chuckled, but there were glints in their eyes that suggested perhaps they were slightly worried that Reaver’s words were true.

“There must be a trick to it,” Leo muttered. He began to walk to platform then, scratching the back of his neck which made his shoulder length blond hair shake. “We have to hide from the no-majs, so it’s not like it would be out in the open, right?”

“The way to Quadria was quite normal,” Killian mumbled.

“Yes, grabbing onto a portkey in the shape of a rotting fish carcass is indeed normal,” Reaver said, now poking his cat Nyx with his wand. “I’m surprised we haven’t had more seals and seagulls transported to that school.”

“That’s not the way into the school, that’s just our way into the school because it’s easier,” said Greyson.

“Still abnormal.”

Leo was now examining the brick pillar that separated the platforms. “Really… there has to be some trick to it.”

“We should’ve picked up a pamphlet.” Reaver’s tone was now a gluttonous wealth of sarcasm. “Or watched their introductory video on VHS. Just 9.99 plus shipping and handling.”

“You’re not helping, Reaver.”

“When do I actually help?”

Greyson glared over at Reaver, the fuse on Reaver’s sometimes hot-headed father burning down quickly. “Be quiet if you’re not going to help. We need to figure this bullshit out quickly, or the damn train is going to leave and you’re going to be going right back to being homeschooled.”

Reaver let out another sigh and pushed himself off of the loaded cart. In that cart were both his and Killian’s school gear, their personal belongings, Killian’s cat Biff and Reaver’s cat Nyx. The two cats were looking around with surprise, both tired from meowing their hearts out while they’d caught the Knight’s Bus to King’s Cross.

Why hadn’t they asked that driver how to get to the train? Well, too little too late now.

“Excuse me.” Reaver, Killian, Leo, and Greyson both looked to their right, and both saw a tall willowy young man standing there, with brilliant yellow eyes and an impish smirk on his face. “Are you trying to get into platform nine and three-quarters?”

“We are,” Greyson said cheerfully. Back home on Vancouver Island he was the mayor of their small Canadian town, and was always happy to talk to strange people – and this guy definitely seemed strange. “Can you help us?”

“Yeah, of course,” the golden-eyed man said. “I’m Jade Shadow, I’m in fifth year.” He eyed Reaver and Killian, still looking way too happy for someone who was on his way to school. “Are you two as well?”

Reaver and Killian both nodded. “We’re new. I’m Killian,” Killian said. “Reaver here got expelled from Quadria and I’m his boyfriend, so I moved here with his family.”

Jade Shadow’s eyes widened, and he looked at Reaver with a new sense of intrigue. “Really?” he said with a smirk. “You do look like a badass, I’ll give you that.” He extended his hand towards Reaver.

Reaver stared down at it, and it wasn’t until Greyson elbowed him that he took Jade’s hand and grudgingly shook it. “How do we get the fuck to the train?” he asked. “We figured this was some more wizard fuckery, right?”

Jade laughed and nodded. Reaver noticed that he was wearing black wizard robes underneath a long grey trench coat, and he had a green and gold scarf tied around his neck. “That’s correct,” he said. Jade then grabbed onto a shabby cart that Reaver hadn’t noticed before, one filled with only two suitcases and a cage that held a black owl, and motioned towards a brick wall that separated platform nine and ten. “It’s right through there. You just run into the brick wall, and it’ll bring you to the Hogwarts Express.”

Reaver cocked an arched eyebrow. “Sounds like a great way to watch two new kids smash into a brick wall for laughs.”

Jade grinned and shook his head. “No, I’ll show you,” he said, and grabbed onto his cart.

“Giving directions, baby bro?” Another guy Reaver’s age, this one with weird red eyes and a matching red-eyed crow on his shoulder appeared. He was also wearing a trench coat, this one black and the same green and gold scarf was tied around his neck. “These two look too old to be first years.”

Reaver sighed, not wanting to, again, have to hear Killian tell the stupid Europeans that he’d been expelled. “Let’s get this shit over with already,” he said. “Show us, Jade.”

Jade inclined his head and began pushing his cart, the red-eyed one with the crow right behind him. “Just get a good run at it,” he called. “Don’t hesitate!”

And with that, Jade broke into a run, his cart in front of him and his brother jogging behind, and Reaver watched with his fathers and Killian beside him, as the lunatic wizard dashed towards the brick platform divider.

What would you fucking know… Jade, his cart, and his brother both disappeared into the brick wall the moment they hit it.

“Well I’ll be,” Reaver mumbled, but then he glanced around at the other people milling around the station, none of them seeming to have seen such a bizarre show. “How the fuck do they do this unnoticed? How do people not see this?”

“It’s better not to think about it, just like back home,” Greyson said, and before Reaver could recoil from horror, Greyson gave his son a firm hug. “You behave yourself at this school, Reaver Merrik, for fuck sakes.” Leo closed in on his son as well, and Reaver groaned when his two fathers securely embraced him.

“If it means I don’t have to go back to being homeschooled I’ll take it,” Reaver said as he tried to pry himself free from Greyson and Leo’s fatherly talons. Their hugs were so firm they felt like a veiled threat more than anything. “Merlin’s fucking cock, will you two get off of me? I ain’t going to war!” Killian was laughing merrily at the display, but Reaver was trying to look over his fathers’ shoulders to make sure no one was watching them.

Fucking parents…

Finally, Leo and Greyson let Reaver go, and hugged Killian goodbye without a single complaint from the very affectionate and sweet Killian. Then, with a deep breath and his boyfriend beside him, Reaver held hard onto the trolley, and began running towards the brick wall.

I swear on Voldemort’s balls if I slam into this brick wall I’m going to find Jade Shadow and I’m going to go engorgio on my wand and shove it up his perkeus assio.

And he could do that too. There were a lot of interesting spells that Reaver had learned during his time in Quadria. They had a forbidden section at the library that was quite worth exploring in the dead of night with Killian.

But that being said, the real fun was after, once they got back to their dorm room and started putting what they’d learned from those books into practice.

Turns out wizards were quite kinky. However, it also turned out that the curtains of their fourposter bed didn’t really keep any noise out, and neither of them had fully learned muffling charms.

As he ran, Reaver’s eyes closed, even though he wanted to keep them open for pride’s sake, and almost instantaneously he felt a sudden blast of nauseous cold and kind of a vacuumy feeling as he went through the wall. That feeling only lasted for a moment however, Reaver and Killian quickly shot out the other end, and stumbled several feet before staggering to a stop.

Reaver opened his eyes, Killian’s hand somehow now in his, and he looked around his new surroundings with an expression of mild impressiveness.

In front of him was a train the colour of blood, and the platform was overflowing with little wizlings and their parents or siblings. All of them standing next to carts, suitcases, and cages with owls, cats, crows, and other animals inside.

Some of these wizard parents were kissing their kids goodbye, the steam from the Hogwarts Express making their farewells be done on a misty backdrop, others were going over checklists, nagging their children to make sure that all their books were accounted for, their robes neatly folded, and whatever else hovering parents needed to nitpick at to make sure their offspring didn’t make them look bad.

Reaver pushed the cart towards the crimson train, the noise all around him making him just a bit anxious, and before someone noticed, he slipped his hand out of Killian’s squeezy grasp. Killian was more than used to that now, he didn’t need these wizards seeing him show public displays of affection.

Jade was soon spotted and his red-eyed brother was right beside him. The two of them were chatting with a young wizard with wavy blond hair, standing beside him was another one with his blond hair brushed back and his face pursed like he was angry about everything and felt himself important enough that everyone should acknowledge it.

“Hey, they managed the platform!” Jade waved to them. “Reaver and Killian!” He elbowed the two blonds and pointed towards Hogwarts’s newest fifth years. “They’re new. Reaver here got expelled from Quadria, Canada’s wizard school.” Reaver felt his ears go hot at this. Did the entire fucking platform have to know that?

“Really,” the one with the wavy blond hair walked up to Reaver and looked him from top to bottom, “so you like to cause trouble, do you?”

Reaver snorted, then glanced over when he saw a giant shaggy black dog approach. “Trouble caused me,” he said, reaching down to pet the dog’s head. “I was just an unwilling victim, I’m sure.” The dog turned around and ran off towards a flock of pigeons, a group of people who Reaver assumed the dog belonged to, waving after him.

When Reaver turned back to the blond-haired boy he was now smirking, his eyes a bright, yet dark green. “I’m Silas Malfoy, and this is my twin brother Draco,” he said. “We’re in fifth year. You don’t know what House you’re in yet, do you?”

Reaver and Killian both shook their heads.

“I guess whether we’ll become friends will depend on that,” Silas said, Draco smiling behind him with his arms clasped behind what looked like brand-new robes. “Better get on the train, Reaver. You wouldn’t want to be stuck in a compartment with muggle-borns, or their fanatics.” Silas glanced over at the same group of people that the dog was hovering around, but when Reaver looked at them he didn’t see anything strange about them. One of them was even carrying a caged snowy owl, one that Jade’s black owl was looking intently at.

Reaver cocked an eyebrow as he watched the strange group. “We don’t really have muggle prejudices where we’re from,” he said. “I more don’t want to get stuck in a compartment with a chick or a fat wizard who takes up two seats.” Jade and Sanguine both snickered at this, but Draco and Silas’s eyes only narrowed.

But, really not wanting to get stuck in a compartment with a chick or a fat wizard, Reaver left their trolley near where all the suitcases and trunks were being loaded, and they each took a cat.

Thankfully, since most of the little wizlings were still saying goodbye to their parents, Reaver and Killian were able to find a compartment that had no one in it. They took Biff and Nyx out and Killian fished around his black satchel, something he always kept on him, and gave them both cats a helping of dried salmon and fixed them a bowl of chicken-flavoured water which he put on the floor.

The entire time, Reaver was looking outside at the large gathering of wizards and witches, all walking amongst the sooty steam that had floated down from the train. There were so many parents with their children, animals sticking close to their owner’s feet, and the scraping sounds of trunks being pushed towards the loading area where two men were busily hauling them into the storage carriages. Some of those men were even using their wands to get it done, but most seemed to think that it would be faster to just lift them.

Reaver glanced back towards Killian when he saw movement, and smiled when Killian sat down beside him and leaned his head on Reaver’s shoulder. Since the compartment door was closed, Reaver kissed Killian on the cheek, and when Killian tilted his head towards Reaver’s, their lips both met.

“Are you excited, baby?” Killian asked. He started taking off his no-maj clothes, his black Hogwarts robes beside him – Reaver saw his too and got up to do the same.

Reaver, as per his nature, geared himself up to say something sarcastic, only for him to stop at the last second. There was a lot on his mind, and since he and Killian were both alone maybe it wouldn’t hurt to share his inner thoughts with the only man he felt like he could do such things with.

“I think so,” he said, pulling off his shirt. “Honestly, I’m only doing this because I don’t want to disappoint my dads anymore. I was fine being homeschooled but the three of us just fought too much, and even worse… they fought more with me around.”

Killian clucked his tongue with sympathy, now doing up the last buttons of his robes. “You’re so sweet,” he murmured. “I’m sure you’ll be fine. We just… need to stick to the rules. The next school after this is Durmstrang and northern Europe is cold as fuck.”

“Yeah,” Reaver said. He finished doing up his robes and stuffed his old no-maj clothes into the corner of the compartment. “I just… that fucking Headmaster had it out to get me. I would’ve been fine if he wasn’t constantly riding my ass trying to get me expelled. Fucker won in the end though.”

“He was an asshole,” Killian said. He laid down on the bucket seat and rested his head on Reaver’s lap. “But British people are supposed to be nice, right?”

“I mean… Voldemort is British, and there is a rumour he’s gaining power,” said Reaver. “Though from what I’ve been reading it seems that Potter nut is making it all up.”

“Well, no one’s perfect. The Brits can have their few bad apples. God knows we do,” Killian chuckled, and he lifted his head up for another kiss.

Reaver kissed him. “I can deal as long as I have you with me,” he said, and Killian melted at the comment. “Thanks for… dropping everything and doing this.”

Killian was radiating happiness, which made Reaver feel a little less guilty about dragging Killian away from his family and old school friends. “I’ll follow you until the ends of the earth, baby,” Killian said. “You know that.”

There was a quick knock on the door, and as it slid open Killian lifted his head off of Reaver’s lap and sat properly.

And there in the doorway was Jade Shadow and his brother, both with their respective birds on their shoulders. “Care for some company?” Jade asked. “The only other rooms open are full of women and fat people.”

Killian laughed, but the last thing Reaver wanted to do was spend the entire train ride with these two weirdos. However, the expression on Killian’s face showed a wish to be social, so for him… Reaver would deal.

“Yeah,” Reaver said, motioning towards the empty bucket seat in front of them. Though as Jade and his brother sat down with their birds, Reaver spotted Biff and Nyx, both perched above their heads on a small shelf meant for luggage. He knew both cats were smart enough not to mess with the birds; the Merrik’s family owl was a rather muscular thing and had bitten the curious cats more than once.

“Thanks,” Jade sat down, then he motioned towards his brother, “this is Sanguine. He’s a fifth year and in Slytherin just like me, but a bit older. Have you given any thought to what House you’re hoping to get in to?”

Reaver and Killian both shook their heads. “Not really,” said Reaver. “Whatever I’m in he’s going to be in though.”

“What House were you in in Quadria?” Sanguine, his weird red eyes inquisitive, asked.

“We were both in Lycore,” Killian explained. “It was a beautiful school, and we did learn a lot there. Though the Headmaster didn’t really like Reaver at all.”

Jade’s yellow eyes crinkled as he smiled. “What did you do to get expelled?” he asked with impish curiosity, and just as the last words left his lips, the train’s whistle blew. “Give us the dirt!”

Reaver waved a hand. “Ah, it wasn’t anything,” he said. “It was the Headmaster that had it out for me.”

“It wasn’t anything because it was more things than he remembers,” Killian leaned in and said. “He’s been getting into trouble since the moment he arrived at the school! I met him during detention, though my detention was because I was goofing off and blew up a school cauldron. Reaver had gotten detention because he’d charmed one of the school kid’s quill to dispense ink that poisoned everyone who read his work.”

Reaver tried not to beam at that. That spell had taken a long time to perfect and he’d done it flawlessly. Why hadn’t they focused on that fact and not the four kids and two professors that had to be hospitalized?

“Do you know any more prank spells like that?” Sanguine asked. He had an oddly smooth voice, like a silky snake but it was suave and crafty too. “I’d love for you to teach me some.”

Reaver tried to look nonchalant, the Hogwarts Express now taking them out of London to god knows where. “Sure,” he said. “I’m always looking to learn some new ones, especially ones I can use on any asshole who wants to make my life difficult.” He nodded towards the two. “What’s it like in Hogwarts? Anyone to watch out for?”

“Besides that attention-seeker Potter and his friends?” Sanguine chuckled. “The Dark Lord is supposed to be growing in strength so maybe watch out for them too, but it seems the Death Eaters are thinning out so at least we don’t have to risk losing our souls.”

Reaver smirked. “You’d need a soul to lose first,” he said. “I’ve been hearing about that dude in The Prophet a lot. Hopefully if Mr. Dark Lord wants Harry P he can just get him and leave the rest of us alone. I have enough bullshit on my plate moving to this weird place from Canada.”

“Here, here,” Sanguine said. He leaned back on his chair and stretched. “Now where is that damn food trolley?”

Soon they were out of London, the tall buildings and big red buses replaced with rolling green hills, various sheep, cows, and other grazing animals doing their thing, and birds that sometimes flew beside their window as if trying to keep up with the train. The weather though, which had been fair before they left London, was now rainy, the skies above them overcast and threatening to fuck with everyone’s day.

Through all of this, Killian chatted it up with Jade and Sanguine, and Reaver added in his two-cents whenever necessary. He’d never been a social person and really hated most people, but Killian was a social butterfly and he wanted his boyfriend to make friends since it was his fault he was here anyway.

And while talking, they ate their stash from the trolley. Reaver bought Pumpkin Pasties, Chocolate Frogs, some Cauldron Cakes, and just to see how brave his friends were, he got some of those Satan-made jelly beans that came in those horrific flavours. The ones Killian called ‘horror beans’.

Who would make such things was beyond Reaver’s understanding. Reaver even looked at the back of the box to see if the beans were made by Voldemort himself, but he couldn’t find it.

After eating their fill, there was a knock on the door of their compartment. Silas and Draco were both standing side-by-side, with two burly ugly men behind them with their arms folded in an intimidating way.

“You haven’t gotten expelled yet,” Draco said with a smirk. His hair was a lot lighter than Silas’s, and his eyes were a pale green instead of his brother’s darker shade. “How are you two fairing? I believe we’ll be at Hogwarts soon.”

“We’re fine,” Killian said. “Raided the trolley. You?”

“Fine,” Draco said as he glanced over his shoulder. “I was looking for Potter. I made prefect this year, and two of his little friends did as well. I wanted to congratulate them before we arrived.” He smirked at his own words, the smirk looking even more devious with his pointed chin. “Meet me outside when we reach our destination, Silas.”

Draco left after that, the two burly wizards following behind him, and Silas lingered in the doorway chewing on a Cauldron Cake, until the very social and chipper Killian invited him to sit beside them.

“I didn’t even want to try to become prefect,” Silas said with a half-laugh. “It’s too much work and not much reward. It means more to Draco. He has this power trip thing going and he fucking hates that Potter guy and those other two with a passion.”

Reaver kept staring out the window, not really caring at all about Harry Potter or what drama came with him.

“I’m not sure if you’ll be travelling with us on the carriages, or with the first years on the boat,” Silas continued. “You two are going to be sorted with the little kids.”

Reaver scowled. “Sounds humiliating,” he muttered, darkness now starting to fall over the rainy day. He couldn’t see the emerald hills anymore, only the shadows of trees and even that became dimmed down when lanterns above their heads lit up to light their carriages.

“It will be,” Silas said, shyly brushing back his wavy blond hair. “Hey, if you get into Slytherin… maybe I can show you around.” He was saying this solely to Reaver, not him and Killian, and it looked like Reaver’s boyfriend had picked up on this.

“We all can,” Sanguine said, feeding bits of Pumpkin Pastie to his black crow. “There’s a lot to see, and we’re in interesting times right now.”

“We can,” chimed his bird, the shock of it making Reaver jump.

Sanguine grinned. “He’s a smart bird,” he said. “I had to get special permission to bring him when I was a first year. His name is Juni, and he can do some rather fascinating things.” Above Sanguine, Nyx was staring down at the bird with his yellow eyes bright, the yellow was almost the same shade as Jade’s.

It was several hours of riding on the train before Jade, looking out the window with excitement, announced that they were approaching Hogwarts. Reaver tried to look too, but the lantern’s reflections were making it impossible to see anything.

Once the train began to stop, Reaver was embarrassed to feel a quiver of excitement in his gut. He made sure not to show it on his face, and busied himself putting Nyx and Biff back into their carriers. After that, they straightened their robes, grabbed their supplies, and followed Silas, Jade, and Sanguine as they exited the train.

It was sprinkling down rain outside, but it wasn’t entirely cold. Reaver could see teachers all around them dressed in their Hogwarts robes, some with pointed hats and all of them carrying lanterns. They were ushering the first year students towards a giant black lake which held small boats with lights bowed forward like fishing rods that had hooked a fish, and the other students were heading towards carriages.

“Mr. Merrik. Mr. Massey.”

Reaver looked over to see a teacher motioning them over. He was a tall blond man standing beside a short round woman, both clad in black with their lanterns, though the woman was smiling, and the blond teacher was not.

Reaver and Killian walked over to him, the looming man’s impressive height making Reaver lost within his shadow. “Our newest fifth years,” the man said. “I am Professor Dekker and I teach Defence Against the Dark Arts. You will be following me, there is a carriage awaiting us, and from there you will be sorted after the first years.”

“Thank you,” Killian said, and with a nod of his head, Professor Dekker began leading them down a well-lit cobblestone path. All the older students, basically everyone who wasn’t first year, were walking down the stone trail, their trunks and suitcases left behind to be delivered to their dorm rooms, their pets kept close in cages, carriers, or roaming free at their feet or flying above their heads.

When they approached their cart, Reaver was a bit bewildered to see that they were being carried along by very strange-looking horses. He hopped up on the carriage and helped Killian as well, and sat with his boyfriend opposite to Professor Dekker.

And during the entire journey, the cold darkness now accented by the sounds of squeaking carts and chattering children, Professor Dekker said absolutely nothing. The wizard, with his hair past his shoulders and his eyes violet, just stared forward with his mouth a thin line; he was still enough for Reaver to contemplate whether he’d turned into a statue.

They were let off in front of some impressive stone steps, ones that led up to the magnificent castle that trumped Quadria’s in size, and location too. Reaver and Killian both ran up them, students all around them matching their speed.

And once entering the Great Hall, Reaver admitted that he was a bit impressed by it. The ceilings looked to be enchanted to reflect the cold black weather outside, and there were candles floating above rows of wooden tables and benches, all of them either filled with young wizards or witches, or filling up fast.

At the head of this hall was another table, this one draped in a fancy tablecloth, and there the teachers were sitting and talking amongst themselves. Reaver spotted Professor Dekker taking a seat, saying quick words to a professor with long black hair and black eyes – that dude seemed to have an even more impressive scowl than Professor Dekker.

Killian elbowed Reaver and nodded towards several silvery ghosts floating around. They were the ghosts that belonged to each House from the looks of it. There were ghosts in Quadria as well, but Reaver had never really exchanged many words with them. Most of the time he was trying to dodge them while he was sneaking out at night with Killian.

They both decided to linger near the Great Hall’s carved brick walls, and remained there when the Great Hall’s doors opened and all the midget first years filed in. Those little bastards all looked terrified, and Reaver couldn’t help but remember when he was a dumb kid like that, scared he was going to be put into some loser house.

Now he had to keep his ass out of Hufflepuff.

No one wanted to be in Hufflepuff.

Some old lady professor then walked up with a ratty old hat, which Reaver recognized immediately, and he stood back with Killian as it broke out into song, singing its heart out like it was auditioning for Wizards Got Talent.

Then the kids began to get sorted. Reaver watched with minimal interest as the professor began to read out names, each name had a timid kid walking up to the hat, sitting on the stool, then the hat would eventually shout out what house they would belong to.

Once the last kid got sorted, the old lady professor then stepped forward, the list now out of her hand, and she scanned the crowd before focusing her eyes on where Reaver and Killian were standing.

“We have two new fifth years joining us as well. All the way from Quadria, Canada’s wizard school,” the professor said. “So, Reaver Merrik? Would you please come forward.”

Well, that wasn’t fair… Massey was before Merrik. But maybe since it was just the two of them they didn’t care about alphabetical order.

Reaver tried to ignore all the gazes, every student and teacher staring at him like he was some sort of weird science experiment, and he walked down the middle of the Great Hall towards the ratty and patched Sorting Hat.

The professor picked the hat up, her wrinkled face firm, and Reaver approached.

But then, to everyone’s surprise, the hat suddenly shouted, before Reaver had even had a chance to sit down.

“Slytherin!”

Instead of cheers and hollers, like what had happened when the first years had gotten sorted, there was just dead silence.

Reaver glared at the hat. “I haven’t even put you on yet,” he said flatly.

“You don’t need to,” the Sorting Hat replied. “You’re Slytherin.”

“How can you know that if–”

“I just know.”

“How??”

“You’re just that much of a Slytherin.”

Now there were snickers and chuckles all around him. Reaver glanced around at the stupid students, but his eyes narrowed in on one group of Gryffindors chortling at each other. It was some black-haired dude with glasses, his ginger friend, and some chick. They were having a grand laugh.

Wait was that black-haired motherfucker Harry Potter? The compulsive lying attention seeking chosen one?

What a fucking brat.

“Come over here, Reaver!” Jade suddenly called. He stood up, and once he stood up Sanguine did as well, then Silas, Draco, and then the rest of the Slytherins. “Purest Slytherin we have here!”

Well, it could be worse. Reaver was sure eventually Jade and his gang would become annoying, but it was better than being stuck with the Potter asshole, the Ravenclaw nerds, or the Hufflepuff… Hufflepuffs.

Reaver walked towards the Slytherin table and Jade made room for him. Reaver didn’t sit though, the professor had called Killian’s name and Reaver’s boyfriend was nervously making his way to the Sorting Hat. Killian sat down, a blond mess of nerves, and the professor placed the Sorting Hat onto his head.

There had been anxiety beforehand, but now it was due to the prospect that Killian could be in a different House than him. What if he was sent somewhere else? They wouldn’t get to see each other as much, and sneaking into each other’s beds at night would be near next to impossible.

Oh god, what if he was placed into Hufflepuff?

Reaver had said to Killian a thousand times that he would never leave him, but… you know.

Reaver waited with bated breath and watched. Killian was staring forward, seemingly not wanting to make eye contact with Reaver, most likely for fear he’d freak out or get teary eyed, and the entire Great Hall was silent to listen.

The seconds seemed to drag on, nothing was happening, Killian was still, the old lady professor was standing authoritatively behind him, no one was talking. What was taking so long?

Then, the announcement.

“Slytherin!”

Reaver couldn’t help bowing over, letting out the breath he’d been holding. Killian was in Slytherin too – everything would be okay.

Killian ran over to the cheering Slytherins, Reaver standing behind Jade to greet him, and because he was too caught up in the moment to care, Reaver let Killian hug him.

When they both sat down, the Headmaster stood up from the gold chair he’d been sitting on and began speaking to them all, and as he did, Killian leaned in and whispered to Reaver.

“He wanted to put me into Gryffindor,” he said quietly. “I had to beg him. He said I would do the best there, that I was courageous and I had a good heart, but… I couldn’t be without you and he understood that.”

Reaver’s heart twisted, a heart that only functioned properly when it came to Killian. “He said you’d to the best in Gryffindor?” he repeated, trying to hide the guilt. “I mean… shouldn’t you have… I mean if he said it was the best fit?”

Killian looked shocked. “I can’t be without you,” he said. “We’re a team, and we came here together. You can’t ditch me in the eleventh hour, asshole.”

Reaver tried to hide the smile. “Fine, Killi Cat,” he said. “I guess you can continue to cramp my style.”

“I knew you two would be Slytherins.” Silas appeared in front of them, holding that same smug look that seemed to fit his face like a custom made glove. His brother Draco was beside him, the two of them looking very much twinny. “Welcome to the best and most powerful house in Hogwarts. There is nothing like it, and the fact that the Sorting Hat made that decision so quickly tells me a lot about you.” Silas extended his hand towards Reaver. “Friends?”

Reaver stared at the hand, before his eyes suddenly focused to behind Silas. He was amused to see that Harry Potter dude glaring at the back of Draco and Silas’s head, the ginger and the chick whispering to each other.

That sealed it. Seriously, fuck that guy. “Yeah,” Reaver said. He shook Silas’s hand, then Draco’s, and Killian did the same. “I guess we can be friends with you British assholes.”

After the Headmaster said several more words, the food appeared. Reaver sighed happily when he saw what it was, seeing nothing overly scary in the feast that was presented in front of them.

To be jackasses, Greyson and Leo had told Reaver that he’d be eating something called spotted dick and pies made out of organs and eels, and that all they had to drink was tea. It looked like there were normal things here: pork chops, shepherd’s pie, mashed potatoes, roasted chickens, boats of gravy, buns, and a bunch of vegetables too with plates of creamy butter tucked in between.

He certainly missed school food.

Once everyone finished eating, the Headmaster talked and went over the rules for the school, which were similar to Quadria’s rules. Then he introduced some lady who was wearing a fuzzy pink sweater and looked like someone’s waspish aunt, the one you only visited because you heard she had put you in her will. That lady, it seemed, was a new teacher, but Reaver didn’t pick up just what she was planning on teaching.

Hell, it seemed that lady barely knew, she kept going on and on about restoring order and trusting in traditions or some bullshit. Reaver didn’t care, even though their empty plates had disappeared, and the leftover food too, Reaver had implemented a trick he’d learned at his old school and was picking at two Cornish game hens that were wrapped and stuffed inside of Killian’s canvas bag.

Once the Headmaster was done talking and the hag in the pink sweater had said her speech, Draco, aka Mr. Prefect, stood up and him and some witch took the first year Slytherins to their new dormitories.

“Let’s follow him,” Jade suggested, rising to his feet too. “He has the password to get into our common room, and our luggage should’ve been delivered by now.”

Well, if it meant getting away from all these people, Reaver was all for it. Even though the adrenaline had gotten him through most of the day, and had made him talkative and okay with exchanging conversation with strangers, he was starting to get exhausted being around so many people. So, he got up, Killian, Silas, and Sanguine too, and they followed a safe distance behind the murmuring first years with Draco and the witch leading the way.

And while walking down to the Slytherin room, which Jade told him was in the dungeons which was kind of cool, he silently admired the old castle, portraits and paintings lining the brick walls, some in between windows both stain glass and normal, others framing winding stairs that changed direction at their will, and some in between metal armour that rattled and whispered as Reaver and his small group walked by it.

Quadria had its own share of weird things, and it seemed the Brits did as well.

“Where are you going so fast, Potter?” Draco was suddenly heard saying. Reaver saw a black-haired kid their age walking quickly past them, his two friends following behind with submissive looks. Potter looked absolutely pissed and Reaver was living for it.

Potter started walking faster, his face twisted as he wallowed in what looked like teenage angst. Draco was now catcalling him, Silas joining in, and Jade and Sanguine the quiet smirking spectators.

But then Killian suddenly shouted ‘Hey!’ and Reaver saw Killian stumble sideways into his arm. That dickhead Potter had shoved Killian while he was trying to get away from the Malfoys.

Reaver saw red. “What the fuck, asshole?” he said angrily.

“No, it’s okay, Reaver. It was an accident,” Killian said quickly. “He didn’t see me; he was looking at Draco. It’s no big deal.” Reaver was already feeling the anger burn through him, and with a glaring look at Potter’s back, his robes swaying behind him and his two friends hurrying to keep up, Reaver reached into his robes and pulled out his wand.

Laurel wood, 12 ½ inches with a dragon heartstring core. Reaver had received it his first day at Quadria and since then it had never been far from him.

It had defended Killian many times, and its owner too. And until Reaver’s dying day, it would continue to do so.

Reaver smirked.

“Transmogrif-”

“Reaver!” Killian hollered, and with a well-aimed slap he knocked Reaver’s arm, his wand lowering. “Don’t get expelled before school even starts! I’m fine!”

Reaver’s black eyes glared into the fleeing Potter Pals, his teeth locked. He knew Killian was right though, so he tucked his wand back into his robes and turned around.

And there he faced Draco, Silas, the Shadow brothers… plus the entire first year Slytherins.

They looked rather shocked, more than a few mouths were hanging open.

“Were you about to use… the Transmogrifian Torture curse?” Silas said, his moss-green eyes almost bulging out of his skull. “On… Harry Potter?”

Reaver shrugged. “What if I was?” he said. “Anyone wants to put a hand on my boyfriend, accidental or not, is going to have to answer to me.”

Silas’s shocked expression changed then, it swiftly went from dumbstruck surprise, to a look of admiration.

But Reaver couldn’t be bothered. He was now feeling completely stressed out from the entire day, and his threshold for being around people had long since been breached. Right now, he just needed some quiet time to recharge.

So, Reaver walked ahead of Draco and the first years, behind him trailing his new entourage. Silas eventually skipped ahead of Reaver as they descended a set of marble stairs, until they were in front of a long brick wall that was bare of everything, even dust and cobwebs.

Silas cleared his throat. “Serpent Silhouette,” he said, and stood back as the bricks began to shift around until there was an opening large enough for several people to fit through.

“After you,” Silas said, motioning towards the entryway. “Your personal items will be waiting for you upstairs. I’d pick a bed quickly. I’m assuming you two will be wanting ones next to each other.” Jade and Sanguine both snickered at this.

Reaver didn’t know why. “We’re going to be sleeping in the same bed,” he said. “We’ve  been together for a year, there’s no reason for us to start sleeping in different beds now.”

This made Jade, Sanguine, and Silas’s eyes widen once again. “Your parents let you?” Jade said with shock, Sanguine looked absolutely intrigued and almost desperate to hear more. “Wow.”

“They don’t really have a choice; no one is going to make that choice for us,” Reaver said as he walked up a shallow set of stairs. Above him he could see a greeny-blue glow, and instead of brick, there was now just carved rock. “Killian is my boyfriend.”

Killian was blushing now. “He’s really protective of me,” Killian said proudly, their footsteps now echoing off of the stairwell. Reaver could see more of the common room now, and it looked like an evil villain’s secret lair… which he loved. Reaver had no idea that those Hogwarts dungeons were actually underneath that massive black lake they’d seen upon exiting the Hogwarts Express. The blue glow was coming from those enchanted windows, and the green off of lamps that hung from the rock-carved ceilings.

Reaver looked around and spotted the stairs that would lead them to their dormitories, and beelined it to there, walking past an elegantly-carved fireplace with the Slytherin crest acting as the center piece. That crest was shimmering with sapphire waves from the lake’s ripples, and alit from the glow of the lamps, both combined making it look like an acid trip.

Reaver stared at it as he walked towards the stairwell. It was weird being here, and so far from his home and the two friend he’d made in Quadria. So far, the Slytherins seemed welcoming, but that might’ve been a bad thing considering Reaver really didn’t like anyone that wasn’t Killian.

Killian audibly sighed with pleasure when they walked into the boy’s dormitory. It looked similar to Quadria’s: a bunch of fourposter beds with their backs against walls, every bed with a green canopy that was trimmed with silver. There was even windows in this room as well, and Reaver looked at one of them just in time to see a weird little gremlin-type creature swim past him, creating a rooster tail of bubbles behind his webbed feet.

“There’s our trunk,” Killian said happily. “And the cats are here!” They’d had to give the cats over to some helpers before entering the Great Hall, with a promise that they’d be fed and put into their dorm rooms. “Everything looks like it’s here.” Killian started unpacking, but Reaver just laid down in the bed nearest to the window and stared up at the canopy.

“I really wish I could’ve cursed that stupid Potter dude,” Reaver found himself saying. “If every dumbass here reads the Daily Prophet they hate him anyway. I bet I wouldn’t even get expelled.”

“Shh!” Killian hissed. “You’re not going to pick fights.” Reaver felt Killian sit down on the edge of his bed, and a hand was placed on his knee. “Remember… you said you really wanted to try and be good this year–” Killian’s voice then lowered. “–for your dads.”

Even the mention of it had Reaver’s bottom lip twitching. “Yeah, yeah,” he said, pushing into his tone as much wayward nonchalance as he could. “As long as no one messes with me or you, we’ll be fine.”

Killian’s throat made a noise at this, but before he could say anything, there was an unimpressed meow from Biff, and as Killian sprung to his feet, Reaver saw that he was being sniffed by a rather fluffy grey cat with copper eyes.

Well, Killian was distracted, perfect. Reaver yawned and folded his hands behind his head, and with Killian soon going back to unpacking their belongings, he drifted off to sleep.

“On our schedule today is… double Defence Against the Dark Arts, double Potions with the Gryffindors,” Killian read, the two of us in the Great Hall for breakfast, our new Slytherin counterparts sitting with us. “Then we have History of Magic at the end of it.” Killian’s expression was eager giddiness, and even after he’d finished reading everything his eyes were still twitching back and forth to give their schedules another once over.

“Professor Dekker is a hard ass,” Sanguine said, but then strangely, he nudged Jade. “But I guess you like both of those things about him, eh? Hard and ass?” Jade choked on his scrambled eggs, then roughly hit his brother.

Reaver and Killian both blinked, but it was Silas who spoke. “I heard that rumour last year,” he said. “Don’t tell me there’s substance to it.”

Rumour?

“Of course not, Merlin’s beard!” Jade said, banging on his chest to help cough up the eggs that looked to have gone down the wrong tube. “He’s just been helping me not fail the damn class. You all know I suck at Defence Against the Dark Arts. If Potter is right and You-Know-Who is alive and kicking, I’m going to be the first one to die.”

“Funny, considering he only started teaching that class this year. He’s been an electives-only teacher up until now,” Sanguine said with amusement. “But whatever you say, brother.”

Reaver caught a smirk from Draco, but it was Silas who was shaking his head. “I don’t like Professor Dekker,” he said. “He seems like a dick and he’s probably a Death Eater.”

Jade and Sanguine both rolled their eyes to the enchanted ceiling. “He’s a Death Eater? What about you, your tattoo show up yet, Malfoy?” Sanguine teased. He reached over and grabbed Silas’s sleeve-covered arm, only for Silas to yank it away with a soured look. “Oh, is it still sore?”

“Hey, leave him alone,” Draco said coolly. “Don’t joke about shit like that, not here with everyone already paranoid and making stupid assumptions. I don’t need more people thinking we’re aligned with him, my family is having enough trouble as it is.” He rose, and put a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “Come on. We got a letter from Dad we might as well read in private.”

Reaver watched them leave. He really couldn’t care less about this Voldemort stuff, though it was entertaining when everyone acted like you just punched a puppy whenever you said his actual name. The only thing that was amusing to Reaver was how much it seemed to be affecting Potter. Even right now he was scowling as he talked amongst his friends, that kid had way too much angst. He needed to get laid, or at least get on some heavy mood potions.

After their breakfast, Reaver left the noisy Great Hall with Killian, Silas, Draco and Jade, Sanguine going to a different class since he was older, and Silas led the way towards their Defence Against the Dark Arts class.

Reaver’s only introduction to Professor Dekker was him riding with them on that carriage with the creepy horses, and that entire time he hadn’t said a word. Admittedly, that was a good thing, the less wizards who spoke to him the better.

“What’s it like in North America, Reaver?”

Speaking of less wizards speaking to them…

Why was Jade even talking to him? He had a perfectly good Killian to answer such a question.

Well, why put myself through such suffering?

“Ask Killian,” Reaver replied.

Killian’s smile appeared immediately on his face, as if Reaver’s words were a smiling spell – which it most likely was – “It’s wonderful!” he said. “I lived in a small town, and Reaver lived on an island with his fathers. We both met in Quadria. There’s some wonderful food there, and the wizards are so nice – most of them anyway. We don’t speak of You-Know-Who that much and really didn’t know much of that story, or the Death Eaters either. We have our own difficult people in the west, I guess. You should come visit us over the summer! Or perhaps Christmas!”

Reaver groaned, which had Jade giving him a haughty look. “I’d rather go visit my own family, don’t you worry, Reaver,” he snipped.

Always the boy who hated conflict, Killian jumped right in to put out the small fire Reaver’s words had lit. “That’s just Reaver’s humour,” he said. “Don’t mind him.”

Silas then decided to sniff, his small nose rising in the air. “I suppose someone who got expelled for poisoning students, and had gotten detention for practicing rather lewd magic in an abandoned classroom would have a bit of a sly attitude on him.”

Reaver eyed Silas. “Where did you hear that from?” he asked slowly. He was right, absolutely right, but Reaver hadn’t told anyone about that last part, and he knew Killian wouldn’t either.

Silas’s thin lips twisted into a smirk that suggested he knew more than that. “You’ll have to show me that spell that almost got you sent home,” he said. “The one that had Killian moaning so loud a teacher found you.”

Reaver stopped, and Silas didn’t even flinch when the dark-haired wizard stalked up to him. “Where did you hear that, Malfoy?” Reaver asked, noticing Draco was only a step away, waiting to jump in if Reaver threatened his brother too much. “Don’t make me truth tonic your blond ass.”

“Reaver!” Killian the wizard cop hissed. “Come on, we’re going to be late for class.” He was as red as a crimson jobberknoll though.

“No, I need to find the snitch first,” Reaver said, glaring Silas down. “Spit it out, weasel boy.”

Reaver and Silas’s eyes fixed and they both held their gazes, Silas puffed out his chest to try and make himself look like a big boy, but he and Reaver both knew that if he tried something he would–

Suddenly, Reaver felt an electric shock rip through him. Reaver fell to the ground, Silas’s hand recoiling, and Reaver met the stone with a crack he could feel reverberate through his head.

“Reaver!” he heard Killian cry. “What the fuck did you do to him?”

“I, uh, I – uh…”

“Get the hell out of the way, all of you,” a cold voice then rang out; one not belonging to a student but a professor – and a familiar one. “What spell is this, Malfoy?”

“I, ah…”

“Speak, you idiot!”

“It’s not a spell… it’s an ability I have. I’m an ignislumis,” Silas stammered. “When I get intimidated or angry… I can electrocute them. Dumbledore knows, and…” Silas then paused, and when he spoke again his tone had become firm, though Reaver still could feel the shaking. “He was threatening me. I didn’t do anything wrong. I have every right to defend myself.”

“You were snitching,” Killian snapped back. “You know what they say happens to snitches, Malfoy.”

“I was not!” Silas yelled back. “My dad knows people in Quadria, that’s not my fucking fault.”

“Ten points from Slytherin. Watch your god damn language, Silas Malfoy,” Professor Dekker’s booming voice then sounded.

Reaver felt a cold hand get placed on his forehead, and with his senses slowly returning, he realized he could smell smoke and burnt hair. “It’s nothing I can’t fix,” Professor Dekker mumbled. “Come on, sit up.”

The professor helped Reaver sit up, then took out a white wand from inside of his robes. With Reaver looking blankly into Professor Dekker’s dark purple eyes, the professor waved his wand, his mouth moving, and out came a string of gold and orange which soon was wrapping itself around Reaver’s body.

Immediately he began to feel better, and like the gold and orange auras were flames they burned away the fog that had been shrouding his mind.

“Speak, Merrik,” Professor Dekker said. “What is your name?”

“Reaver,” Reaver mumbled. “I’m fine.” He staggered to his feet as the professor rose, and tried to nudge off Killian as his boyfriend grabbed his arm to keep him stable.

There was a small audience around them now which was humiliating, fish-eyed students were gaping at him like they were waiting to be fed, and those who weren’t staring at Reaver… were eyeing up Silas.

Once Reaver was steady, Professor Dekker’s cold gaze turned to Silas. “Keep that mutation under control, boy,” he said, his voice still a sheet of ice. “I don’t want this to happen again.”

Draco’s pale eyes were glaring. “Reaver was threatening him,” he said defensively. “Silas’s power is a defence mech-”

“I care not, Malfoy,” Professor Dekker said, now heading back down the hallway, where Reaver assumed the Defence Against the Dark Arts class was. “There are many wizards and witches with unique abilities they are born with, and none of them will get any pity from the Ministry of Magic if a student is seriously hurt because of a fellow student unable to keep control of it.”

Draco’s glare then turned to Reaver, but a glare was all Reaver got, Draco then turned and followed Professor Dekker towards the classroom.

And with a glance that seemed apologetic, Silas followed him.

Jade then let out a whistle, the crowd finally dispersing. “I’ve only seen him use his jellyfish power once,” he said, Sanguine nodding as Jade spoke. “I wonder why you make him so emotional? Perhaps he has a crush on you.”

Reaver’s mouth twisted at the thought, but Killian’s expression turned murderous. “I’d like to see him try,” Killian growled. “I’ll show him how they duel in Quadria. He’s going to wish he’d been born a no-maj.”

Sanguine chuckled with gleeful amusement. It seemed like that creepy dude was always smiling about something, and that smile made his eyes squint. “No-maj,” he repeated. “I love how you speak, and I love your little Canadian accents!”

Reaver grunted. “You’re the idiots with accents,” he said, still feeling a bit jittered from Silas’s lightning eel attack. “I never heard of whatever that idiot has. He needs to be put in a cage.”

Jade and Sanguine were both quiet, and even though Reaver had just observed that Sanguine was always smiling, that smile dissolved like Reaver’s words were acid.

“Silas has been through a lot in his… life,” Jade then spoke. “Cut him a break. He’s a good guy and our friend, and whatever problems he has… it’s not his fault.”

Reaver disliked Silas even more after that comment. He didn’t know why, maybe Silas was a good guy but Reaver certainly was not.

The Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom reminded Reaver a lot of Professor Dekker, or what Reaver knew of him so far. The classroom’s brick walls were painted a medium grey with a charcoal grey border, and there were portraits of elegant things and fancy wizards, the wizards peering down at the new class with curious looks and murmurs to the paintings they were hung beside. Against the walls were ornately carved furniture, credenzas, armoires, shelves with various instruments, and in front of the rows of tables and benches, each with their own inkwells, was a desk made of white wood with a silver wingback chair in front of it and a chalkboard to its left.

Professor Dekker was already at the front of the room, and he was looking down at a piece of parchment, his white wand, one that had a silver handle, was resting beside it on the desk.

“Everyone take your seats,” Professor Dekker said without even looking up from his reading. “Sit where you like, but if there is a problem with talking that privilege will get swiftly revoked.”

Reaver found a seat with Killian, and since the Shadow brothers seemed intent on being friends, Jade sat beside Reaver and Sanguine beside Killian; Reaver was mildly surprised to see Silas and Draco sit on the last two seats to his left past Jade, though Draco had a sour face.

“Welcome to fifth year Defence Against the Dark Arts,” Professor Dekker said, finally looking up from his parchment. “I will be your teacher, Professor Elish Dekker. Most of you know me from the elective classes I used to teach: Alchemy and Apparition. This class has gone through its share of teachers from the looks of it.”

The students around Reaver and Killian all nodded.

“It seems as if they’ve been teaching you the correct things however, even the one who turned out to be a Death Eater… amusing,” Professor Dekker muttered the last part, glancing down at his parchment again. “What we will be learning this year will be what helps you get the OWLs you need. I am a good teacher but a strict one, considering the dangerous spells we will be learning and practicing here, I expect maturity and I expect compliance. If such things do not happen, you will  be kicked out of my class without a second thought, and if that happens I fully expect to see you panhandling for knuts in front of Gringotts.”

There were snickers all around the classroom from that remark, but the frozen brumal gaze of Professor Dekker’s eyes showed that there wasn’t even a trace of joking in his words.

“Get your wands out,” he then said, and that brought a hiss of excitement from the students. “Today I am going to teach you how to defend yourself against an ignislumis.”

Silas scowled at this. “I am not a dark art,” he said flatly.

“Until you learn how to control your destructive powers, Silas Malfoy, you most certainly are,” Professor Dekker said in a casual voice that showed more than a tad bit of being patronizing. “Come to the front of the class.”

Silas’s scowl deepened. “I’m not dangerous.”

“Then none of today’s students will have to use what I teach them,” Professor Dekker said casually. “That’s the interesting thing about Defence Against the Dark Arts, Mr. Malfoy. We teach you in hopes that you never have to put into practice what you’ve learned.” Professor Dekker than tapped the front of his desk with his white wand. “Now, Malfoy.”

“My brother is not a practice dummy,” spoke up Draco, his tone matching the frost in Professor Dekker’s.

“Indeed, he is not,” Professor Dekker said as Silas walked to the front of the room. Once the blond-haired boy was nervously standing in front of Professor Dekker’s desk, Professor Dekker stood beside him and addressed the class.

“An ignislumis is quite a fascinating wizard,” Professor Dekker said loudly, his white wand in his hand. “They will electrocute you when they’re scared, and if you upset them enough, they will fry your brain and leave you squirming on the ground with a wet patch on your trousers. Ignislumis can be quite dangerous when frightened, but there is a way to calm them down.”

Professor Dekker then turned towards Silas, Silas giving Professor Dekker a sideways look. He stared down at the blond-haired Slytherin before flicking his wand into a flourished half-circle and saying: “Enragio.”

A snake-like curl of red came out of Professor Dekker’s wand and coated Silas. The moment it sunk into his skin, Silas’s green eyes darkened and his face twisted in anger. “Is that how you calm me down, asshole?” he snarled to the gasping horror of every student that wasn’t Reaver. “You’re a shit wizard just like you’re a shit teacher.”

Professor Dekker smirked. “Enragio is a simple spell, though that is not what I am here to teach you today,” he said. “We merely have to get the little ignislumis mad enough to bite back.” And as if he were literally poking a bear in a cage, Professor Dekker began prodding and jabbing Silas with his wand.

“Stop it!” Silas yelled angrily, the tips of his ears going red. “Fuck off!”

“This is lunacy!” Draco burst to his feet. “Leave my damn brother alone!”

“If you wish for me to stop, do something about it, Malfoy,” Professor Dekker said.

Silas gave a bellow of anger, and to the classes shock, Killian even gasping beside the intrigued and fully entertained Reaver, a rip of lightning exploded from Silas’s body, sending a shower of sparks that had the front row of students screaming.

Lightning tendrils then emerged through these sparks and shot towards Professor Dekker.

“Sebsatium!” Professor Dekker then yelled, striking his wand towards Silas as if it were a sword. A burst of violet aura shot towards Silas, and the sparks and lightning vanished upon contact like a sparkler that had lost its fuel.

Silas looked around in confusion, his pale skin grey and his eyes wide. He focused his gaze on Professor Dekker, and the confusion morphed into anger.

“Very good, little Malfoy,” Professor Dekker said. “Ten points for Slytherin.” Reaver usually didn’t care about points, but that was because he was always losing them for his previous House. “The next example I will be showing you, is one that will require no manipulation of Silas Malfoy’s mind, for it is something he does… quite willingly and easily.”

Silas took a step back. “I don’t use it willingly or easily,” he said with silent honesty.

The corner of Professor Dekker’s mouth rose at this. “Indeed,” was all he replied. “The next lesson will be how to prevent an ignislumis from getting into your very head and controlling you.”

There was another gasp throughout the Slytherins. “He can control people?” the prefect chick gasped. “Like the Imperious Curse?”

“No,” Silas said defensively. Draco was fuming on the spot. “I can’t do anything like that.”

“Why weren’t we warned about this?” another Slytherin said. “What’s stopping him from using it on us?”

Silas was melting on the spot as the students raged around him, throwing all of their anger towards him as the blond Slytherin cowered. Through all of this, Professor Dekker just smirked, seemingly like he was having the time of his life. It made Reaver wonder if perhaps the two of them had a sort of history. Maybe Silas had done something to Professor Dekker in the past?

“I can’t do anything like that!” Silas said again loudly, just as Draco approached him and grabbed his arm. “Just stop it.”

“It’s fine. Let’s just go,” Draco said quietly. “We… need to…” Draco looked around, his pale green eyes angry, and headed for the door.

“Eleccio Embarko,” Professor Dekker said as he flicked his wand towards Silas. A wavy disruption then broke the air, as if the spell was trying to rip a hole in the fabric of time and space.

But before the disruption could hit Silas, Draco whirled around, said a string of words that Reaver couldn’t catch, and with a flare of red, the disruption was eliminated and Silas unharmed.

“We’ll be going to Dumbledore about this, and my father will be hearing of this too,” Draco said angrily. “Enjoy your job while it lasts, Elish.”

Professor Dekker’s cold smirk made another appearance. It looked so natural it was as if it were his resting face. “I will, Malfoy,” he simply said. Then he turned back to the class – all the students still talking loudly and frantically – and eyes violet eyes narrowed. “Settle down!” he boomed. “Wands in hand, minds clear. We don’t need a test rat to get such things done. Grab a partner, and get ready for some nosebleeds.”

And there were indeed nosebleeds. For the remainder of the class every Slytherin student practiced the spell: Sebastium. One was to stop any sort of electrical attack in its place, and the second, which no one had got to see demonstrated on Silas, was supposed to prevent the ignislumis’s mind controlling powers from controlling you.

To demonstrate this, Professor Dekker brought out flaretts, a magical animal that resembled a ferret but could produce shocks much like the ignislumis. By the end of the class Reaver had only succeeded in blowing up his flarett by somehow filling its stomach full of whatever magic he’d made come out of his wand. Killian’s eyes were teary by the end of it, and there was a bit of blood and fur on his face and robes.

“I have applied for special permission to use the Imperious Curse next class,” Professor Dekker said, causing an excited chatter around the students. “If Silas Malfoy has no plans to help us with class, we can practice on the next best thing. An ignislumis’s abilities are similar to that curse, and though it would be better to practice on the real thing, it will do.” The bell then rung, and Professor Dekker nodded towards them. “Homework is practice, and I want everyone to read Chapter 12 of Exploring the Darkest Art. Jade, I will see you after class. Everyone else is dismissed.”

Jade after class? Maybe the rumours were true and they were banging. Wouldn’t that be fucking hilarious, Reaver thought to himself as they left the classroom.

“Holy shit,” Killian said once they were in the Great Hall eating lunch. “That was bizarre.” Reaver’s blond boyfriend looked over to Sanguine, the red-eyed wizard eating a grilled cheese sandwich. “Is that normal? I mean… has that happened before?”

Sanguine waited several moments until he’d swallowed his food. “We’ve never had a class with Professor Dekker up until now,” he said. “Jade used to tell me that he was tutoring him after class. I never really enquired deeper than that. I didn’t really want…” Sanguine blinked as Reaver, wand in hand, reached over and speared a sausage with that very wand. “…I didn’t really want to know…” He cocked an eyebrow. “You use your wand to spear food?”

Reaver took a bite out of the sausage and shrugged. “Multi-use, right?” he said with his mouth full.

Sanguine stared for a few moments longer before he seemed to collect himself. “It is probably true, the thing with Jade and Professor Dekker, but don’t tell anyone. I don’t want Jade to get into trouble, and he’s old enough to make his own decisions.”

“Fifteen?” Reaver snorted, but then he remembered that he was still fifteen, at least until November, and technically to say that fifteen was too young to be making adult decisions would be insulting himself as well. “Yeah, you’re right. Kid-wiz is old enough.”

“It’s still weird,” Killian said, then he looked up and a smile appeared on his face. “Hey, Silas. Hey, Draco. How are you two doing?”

The two blond Malfoy boys were walking toward the Slytherin table. Silas was a pace back from Draco, hiding behind the oldest brother with an expression that said he was trying not to look put out by what had happened earlier.

“We’re good, thank you,” Draco said. He sat down in his usual spot with his brother and a plate appeared in front of him. Those house elf slaves really knew how to cater. “I’ve sent an owl off to my father and I will be telling Professor Snape about this as well. What Dekker did was unspeakable. No one treats a Malfoy like that. We’re an–” Draco looked at Reaver, who was now licking the sausage grease off of his wand.

“Don’t ask,” Sanguine said. “It’s a Canadian thing, probably.”

“I see,” Malfoy said with a blink. “Well, I look forward to hearing from Father. He’s not going to let some stupid wizard who is too big for his trousers humiliate my brother.” Silas was being quiet the entire time, not saying a thing. “This will not be happening again.”

As Draco ranted on, Reaver finished his lunch and nudged Killian. “I’ve had enough being social,” he said. “Want to explore the castle before the next class?”

Killian brightened at the idea. “I’d love that,” he said, grabbing his satchel which was also filled with their books. “We’ve barely got any time to ourselves.” Not alone anyway, they’d decided not to give in to their cardinal desires the first night at Hogwarts, even though it was difficult.

“Don’t go into the forbidden areas,” Silas then spoke up. “You don’t want to get expelled on your first day, Merrik.” He said that with a wink, seemingly snapping out of his brooding trance the moment he had a chance to be an asshole.

“If I am I’ll ask your Daddy to get me back in,” Reaver called as he walked away. “I’m going to be seeing him tonight.” Reaver turned around and made the motion like he was sucking a cock.

They walked out of the Great Hall, groups of students moving around with their book bags, most of them happily talking to their friends. Reaver watched them out the window, before Killian began leading him to a flight of stairs.

And quickly, Reaver realized Killian was actually leading him, like he had a destination in mind.

They summited the flight of stairs which led them to a long corridor lit by floating lanterns and framed with various pictures that were milling around and doing their own thing. Killian dragged Reaver down the hallway, doors soon appearing on both sides of them now.

“Where are we going?” Reaver asked with a confused blink. This was the north part of Hogwarts, there were classes down here, Divinations was at the top of the north tower, wasn’t it?

“Jade told me of a few abandoned classrooms that no one goes into,” Killian said. He opened a door and looked in, but quickly closed it. “I’m trying to find one.”

“Why…?” Reaver asked suspiciously.

Killian turned around and gave him a look, a look that suggested that Reaver had suddenly gone full Hufflepuff.

“Why would we need an abandoned classroom, hun?” Killian asked. “We haven’t been alone in days, and we only have twenty minutes before lunch is done and the bell rings.”

Then it clicked in Reaver’s head. “Oh,” he said with shock, but that shock then turned into a grin. “Oh.” That last one was said with a certain growl, and he stopped his movements and pulled Killian towards him.

Reaver locked his lips with Killian, and the two kissed passionately in the hallway. “You want me, eh?” Reaver growled seductively. “That bad?”

“Mmhm,” Killian said, pulling Reaver close. “Think you can satisfy both of us in twenty minutes?”

Honestly, Reaver could do it in a lot less. But he decided to turn on the sexy charm.

“I’ll have to do you hard,” said Reaver with a wink.

Killian blushed, then after kissing him one more time, he continued leading Reaver again down the hallway. “Jade said he’d make a map for us tonight,” Killian said. “He’s made a few of them for the Slytherins wanting to get some time with their partners. Sanguine even said he’d help us improve our muffling spells so maybe eventually we can just draw the curtains on our bed.”

Well, that would definitely make things easier, but from the looks of his fellow fifth year Slytherins he’d be worried about at least five of them trying to get a peek as to what was going on behind those curtains. And those who didn’t swing in that direction would probably gape just out of pure curiosity.

Killian kept opening doors, then closing them with a sigh. By this time, Reaver was hard, the anticipation of a quickie in one of those rooms driving his body crazy. At least the northern tower seemed rather abandoned, there was no one up here, but when that bell rang it would be flooding with students.

“Fuck it, we can do it here,” Reaver finally said when they were almost at the end of the rows of doors. “Come here and take those pants off.”

“Reaver!” Killian laughed, and that laugh turned giggly when Reaver grabbed Killian’s ass and squeezed it. With a throaty growl, Reaver pinned Killian up against the brick wall and they began making out.

“Fuck, you’re a sexy little wizard,” Reaver growled into Killian’s ear. “You want to try that spell we learned? It might be the only way we can get off before that bell rings.” Why were there so many wizardly smut books in the library’s forbidden section? Whoever it was, pervy teacher or a student looking to do a favour for the future generations, Reaver thanked them full-heartedly.

“Do it,” Killian whispered, his breathing ragged and his hard cock grinding against Reaver’s. “I’ll try and keep it down at the very least.” He opened his eyes when Reaver took out his wand, and several white teeth pressed down on his pink lips.

Reaver winked, his cock throbbing. He wanted so badly to just bend Killian against the wall and give it to him, but perhaps this would be the next best thing.

Reaver took out his wand and Killian did too, at the same time, with the tips of their wands touching, they whispered: “Concupisco.”

The instant that a spark of dark blue illuminated the tops of their wands, Reaver felt an intense pleasure on his cock. It was like getting a blowjob by someone with a vibrating mouth, one that was the perfect heat and had a tingle to it that drove them both wild.

Each wand controlled the other’s pleasure and its intensity, so when Killian slowly flicked his back and forth Reaver’s own stimulation grew rapidly. He did the same to Killian and they began making out, grinding themselves against each other and only breaking their lips apart when they needed a moment to breathe.

“What the heck are you two doing?”

Reaver and Killian snapped apart like two pieces of a puzzle getting separated, and the glows on their wands disappeared as they turned to face…

Harry Potter.

And boy did that guy look pissed.

“Do you think this is a frat house?” Potter said angrily, waving his arms in the air like he was trying to fly away. “Do you have any god damn shred of respect in you?”

Reaver and Killian both stared at Potter, before exchanging glances.

“You need to get laid, Potter,” Reaver said plainly, looking the black-haired wizard up and down. “Go be angsty somewhere else.”

“My next class is here, you git,” Potter snapped. “There’s enough horrible stuff going on in and out of this school right now, Hogwarts doesn’t need yet another Slytherin to add to it.”

Reaver sniffed. “You certainly seem to hate Slytherins,” he said. “I bet if we were Gryffindors you’d be wanting to join in.”

“Feck off, new kid,” Harry said, practically shouting. He was just out of control that one, the wizard boy definitely seemed to be going through a lot. Maybe him thinking Voldemort was still alive was some weird hallucination brought on by some mental disorder? “Just get the heck out of here, and go do that somewhere else.” But before walking away, Potter paused, then turned around. He looked to Killian, then back to Reaver. “I’d be careful hanging out with the Malfoys as well,” he said slowly. “There are a lot of rumours going around when it comes to Malfoy’s new brother.”

Killian looked confused. “New?” he said.

Potter nodded. “He only showed up during the last semester last year,” he said. “Before he came, Draco never mentioned having a brother. Silas just… showed up, and I think it has something to do with Voldemort.” Potter then began walking back towards the north tower. “The only reason I’m warning you Slytherins is because you two aren’t from here, so I believe you’re not aligned with him. Watch Draco, he’s slippery and his entire family consists of Death Eaters.”

And with that, Potter disappeared up the stairwell.

Killian swore under his breath, but the moment he did, Reaver shook his head rapidly. “No, no we’re not getting involved in that shit,” he warned Killian. “Not a chance.”

“But…”

“No, Killian,” Reaver said sternly, and thankfully, the bell then rang. Reaver walked as quickly as he could to their next class, Killian jogging behind, most likely with a scowl on his face.

Their next class was Charms which was interesting, but a class that Reaver always got in trouble in. He didn’t manage to keep out of trouble, considering he was more focused on turning the rabbit they were working on into a dildo rather than an umbrella like the teacher had requested, but he didn’t get caught at least, mostly due to the fact that he only managed to turn the rabbit pink. He was good at charms but well, it was the first day.

After that was their last class of the day, which would be Double Potions with the Gryffindors.

“Wonderful,” Reaver muttered as he glanced at the schedule that Killian was holding. “Hopefully it goes by quickly.”

“Snape is cold and pretty strict, but he hates Potter so it’s always fun to watch him get harassed,” Sanguine said, Jade following behind. Those two had just joined them as they made their way to the Potions dungeon. “Draco has a hard-on for watching that.”

Reaver shook his head. “If Draco is that obsessed with Potter he should just bang him already.” Jade almost spat out the bottle of juice when Reaver said that.

They entered the dark and dimly lit Potions room, Reaver observing that it looked pretty much exactly like they’d expected. He’d always loved Potions and had done pretty good in his last school.

That being said though, Reaver only did good in that class because he was always making potions he could either get high off of, or had some sort of recreational or sexual side effect.

He was a teenager after all.

Professor Snape came into the class dressed in black robes. He was incredibly pale, as if even the sun had decided he was just a lost cause, and his hair looked like it had been washed in bacon grease. The wizard looked like he’d never smiled once in his life either, unless he was maybe torturing a small mammal.

Snape went on about OWLs and NEWTs and electives and exams and all sorts of things, but Reaver was too busy staring at the glass cabinet that was full of potions ingredients. In his last school, they’d learned quickly to lock up all of those ingredients, not even the rare ones, due to… well… Reaver making things.

But these ones? The Brits were too trusting – much too trusting.

You know, there were a few potions that Reaver had been wanting to make, one in particular as well. It was called ecstatis potion and it was supposed to make you feel really god damn good, and it made other certain acts feel pretty fine as well.

Reaver went over the ingredients in his head, completely ignoring the instructions that Snape was telling them.

Killian kicked him underneath the table, and Reaver snapped back just in time to hear Snape give off the last instruction. “Everything else will be found on page twenty-six,” he said. “I expect perfection for a fifth year, anyone who doesn’t get this potion right is in dire trouble if they want to take my NEWT course.”

Reaver frowned. He liked potions so he did kind of want to take the course. But he also hated paying attention and he hated even more being forced to do something, even if it was for his own good.

“What are we doing?” Reaver hissed to Killian.

Killian gave him a look. “It’s called draught of peace and it’s supposed to have a calming effect,” he hissed. “I’d think you’d want to make it.”

Reaver mulled this over and nodded. “I could,” he said. “But I kind of want to make something else.” Reaver looked towards the glass wall of potions, then grabbed Killian’s satchel. “Cover me.”

“Reav!” Killian hissed, but Reaver was gone. He went to the shelf, other students grabbing the ingredients, and with a glance over his shoulder he saw Snape hovering over Potter with a sneer on his face.

So quickly Reaver grabbed the ingredients he needed: two cat whiskers, half a spoonful of ginger, one runespoor egg, tablespoon of sugar, and powdered valerian root, two shakes of it. He stuffed the items into Killian’s satchel then turned around.

Fucking Potter was staring right at him, his ginger friend busy speaking to the chick.

Reaver stared back, not knowing what to do.

So he waved in a rather sarcastic way, then quickly sped back to Killian and his cauldrons.

“Okay, I don’t think this will take long…” Reaver flicked his wand towards his cauldron, muttering a spell, and it started filling up with clear water. “I think I might even be able to get it done before class ends.”

Killian looked at Reaver like he’d just gone crazy. “You’re making it now?” he hissed through clenched teeth. “Reaver, you have to make the potion Snape told us to make!”

Reaver scoffed. “This is just day one, Killian,” he said. “No one has their head in the game during day one. He expects us all to fail.”

Silas leaned forward, the Malfoy brothers both sitting side by side. “Not Snape,” Silas said soberly. “Even if he likes Slytherins, he will still fail your ass if you don’t take this seriously.”

Reaver waved a hand, and with the eyes of his boyfriend and friend glaring into him, he got started on his recreational potion.

It was funny how much better he was at his school work when he’d get something at the end of it. When he was in his old school and started studying charms, he was a wonderful student. Not because he cared how to turn a toad into a pack of matches, but because that meant he could use it to his own advantage. Reaver had once turned a boy he hated into a roll of toilet paper and left it in the Headmaster’s personal bathroom. The kid was a brown-noser, so he deserved it.

There were a lot of mysteries in this world and one of them definitely would be why that wasn’t something he got expelled over. Reaver hadn’t even gotten caught, the kid most likely too humiliated to rat him out to the teachers.

And now, Reaver was excelling at his potion, not the one that Snape had asked them to make, but the potion that would get him high of course.

By the end of the class, Reaver’s potion was perfect. It was a bubbling light orange with red steam coming off of it, the consistency of orange soda and a smell that reminded Reaver of Fruit Loops cereal. However, that wasn’t what the potion was supposed to look like, and as such, Reaver waited for Snape to sneer at him.

But to Reaver’s inner joy, Snape never ended up coming over to him. Reaver stood over his potion proudly as Snape began chewing out Potter, making the kid go over all the ingredients necessary in the potion so the idiot knew what he’d put in wrong.

While Snape was distracted, Reaver flicked his wand and muttered a spell, and discreetly poured his new potion into a bottle, and just as the bell rang, he put a stopper over it.

And Reaver was out of there like a murtlap that spotted a hungry zouwu. His fan club trailed behind, and gathered around him when Reaver ducked into a brick alcove that held a stain glass window featuring a cyclops.

“Wow,” Jade said with a laugh. “I can’t believe you got away with that. I was sure Snape was going to catch you. If you think detention in Quadria is bad, just wait until you experience it here. They take first years to the Forbidden Forest. Like the one with rapist centaurs and giant spiders that eat humans. Fucking first years, mate!”

“Sounds like a Saturday night to me,” Reaver said, holding up the potion to examine it. “We’re going to use this stuff tonight.”

Killian was the colour of a pomegranate. “Come on, let’s get out of here before some professor gets curious,” he said, rubbing his cheek as if hoping to knead the red out of it. “Put that in your robes!”

Jade watched as Reaver tucked the potion into his black robes, looking a bit too curious at it for Reaver’s taste. He didn’t say anything though, and they headed down the corridor towards the common room.

That night Reaver decided he wanted to get high as all fuck. So, after having dinner, and because Killian was insistent, doing some homework and mingling with some of the other Slytherins, they went upstairs to the boy’s dorm and surrounded their new four poster bed with muffling charms. Once Killian was confident that they were working (he closed the curtain and screamed as loud as he could), they both took a sip of the ecstasis potion and started making out in the bed.

One thing led to another, which was the point really, and finally Reaver was able to release some of that built up tension. With his entire body feeling like it was in a tingling suit of warmth and pleasure, he fucked Killian for the next several hours, and even got to try out a few new magic tricks he’d been dying to test out on his boyfriend.

Including one which made your cum taste like bubblegum. That one was both amusing and useful. Thankfully, he didn’t get it mixed up with the spell that made you cum bubbles.

After they’d cum several times between them, and they were both basking in the afterglow, both of them fell asleep. Killian was snoring, naked with the blankets half off of him with his blond hair sticking up in random directions, and Reaver with his hand dangling off of the bed.

And it was because of that hand dangling off of the bed, that Reaver woke up to something lightly touching it. Immediatly, this woke him up, but instead of retracting his hand, Reaver listened and watched.

He watched a slender hand slip through the curtains, and grab the half-finished bottle of ecstacis potion. Then, as quickly as it had appeared, the hand disappeared and light footsteps were heard.

It didn’t take a rocket wizard to know who that was. Reaver had undoubtably just been robbed by Jade Shadow looking to have some fun with Professor Dekker.

And though Reaver was still tired from his exploits with Killian, his curiosity had him slipping off of the bed once Jade was gone, and grabbing his wizard robes and wand.

Everyone else in the dorm room was asleep, their curtains pulled back and more snoring heard now that Reaver was away from the muffled four poster bed. But when Reaver pulled back Jade’s curtain, sure enough, he was gone.

That little shit. He could’ve just asked for some of the potion. Reaver would’ve laughed and said no, but he still could’ve asked.

Reaver turned to follow Jade, but as he walked past the beds, he realized there was another one that appeared empty. Reaver pulled back the curtains and saw that indeed no one was home…

Reaver looked to the side table to try and figure out who it was, only to see a framed photo of… Silas and Draco. The two of them were waving wands around like idiots, a man who was obviously their father, since he was blond and pissy-looking too, behind them looking… pissy.

This photo looked like it was taken recently too. Which had Reaver remembering what Harry Potter had told them.

How Silas had just seemed to have… shown up. He was supposed to be Draco Malfoy’s twin, and yet he hadn’t been at Hogwarts that long.

Reaver pondered this mystery, but as he did, his eyes widened.

He was starting to get intrigued by all of this… And that was bad.

No, he wasn’t going to get involved in any of this bullshit!

So, Reaver ignored Silas’s empty bed, and went off to trail Jade.

Jade was surprisingly sneaky too. There was no question why his last name was Shadow. It took a while for Reaver to even track the fucker down, and by the time he did, Jade was running soundlessly down a flight of stairs that were now in motion.

Reaver had to wait for the stairs to circle back before he could get on to them. And once he was sprinting down them, Jade had already vanished into another door. Reaver ground his teeth as the stairs moved around, hating this confusing school, and watched Jade so he could see where he was going to disappear next.

“Sneaking off, are we?” a voice hissed behind him. Reaver turned around and saw that the stairs were taking him past a painting of a slender ferret with orange eyes.

“Yep,” Reaver said. “I’m following the other kid.”

The ferret slinked around his painting, a black forest behind him and a dead mouse underneath his paw. “He slips out a lot,” the ferret said. “Almost as much as the blond one.”

“Yeah, he’s fucking a teacher,” Reaver said matter-of-fact, the stairs taking him farther and farther away. “Or at least that’s the rumour. He stole my sex potion so I’m going to go get some blackmail on him.”

The ferret stared at him for a second, even blinking twice. “I see,” the ferret said. “Good luck with your sex potion.”

“Thanks.” Reaver then jumped off at the next landing, the stairs continuing to swing, and because it was easier, he slid down from the platform, fell the ten feet, and landed on the ground. It was more noise than he wanted to make, but it was quicker, and Jade looked to be gone already.

Reaver was now at the bottom of the moving stairs, surrounded by paintings, a statue in armour, and a plant that looked like a pineapple tree but you never really knew in this world. There were three different corridors around him, all of them lit with a very dim torch, and all of them with doors to the right and left.

It looked like Jade had gone through the corridor to his right, or at least that’s what it had looked like from above him on those stairs. Reaver began walking towards it, and as soon as he was in the hallway, he heard a noise that sounded extremely familiar.

Fucking.

Reaver taxed his ears and listened. Yep, that was Jade. Jade was making high pitch moans, about the same time as a second sound that was skin hitting skin. Then, yep, Professor Dekker’s grunting could be heard too.

Busted!

Reaver tip toed down the corridor and found the room right away. The wooden door, reinforced with iron, was closed and most likely locked, but apparently the professor was too stupid to use his own muffling charm. Was that even Professor Dekker’s apartment? Maybe they’d just found an abandoned room like what Reaver was looking for earlier.

Well, it didn’t matter now. The rumours were true, Professor Dekker was fucking Jade.

Reaver’s brows then rose when Jade’s moans began to get more intense.

“Fuck me, Elish!” Jade gasped. “Oh fuck, this shit is good. This stuff is amazing. Fuck me, baby. Give it to me.”

Baby? Wow.

“I’ll give it to you until you beg me to stop, boy,” Professor Dekker then could be heard growling. “You won’t be sleeping until my cum is dripping out of that tight ass of yours.”

Wow!!

And kinda hot.

Reaver kept listening, and though he wanted to tell himself he was listening to get more dirt on Jade and Professor Dekker, in truth it was pretty damn erotic.

Before Killian, Reaver didn’t have much of an interest in sex. Now though? That god damn kid had awoken a fire inside of him.

So, Reaver found himself getting hard, and as Jade came, loudly and passionately, Reaver’s hand was down his pants playing with his stiffening dick. Professor Dekker came soon after, grunting, growling, and panting as he did.

Jade was then heard laughing lightly, and Professor Dekker could hear kissing him. “I love you,” Jade suddenly said.

This took Reaver off-guard. Love? So it wasn’t the two of them hooking up?

“I love you, Jade,” Professor Dekker said back. “You… make me very happy.”

Even though no one could see him, Reaver looked around the empty corridor with his mouth open and his eyes wide.

That was some nice fucking dirt!

There was more kissing, but Reaver was getting a bit too hot to keep listening. If he stayed any longer, most likely for round two, he’d need to jerk off and the last thing he wanted to do was be the pathetic new fifth year who jacked himself in an empty corridor to a professor and a fifth year getting it on. Especially when he had a perfectly good boyfriend currently sleeping in their bed.

Reaver decided to go back to the dorm room. He stuffed his hard-on down as much as he could, but the fact that he had a pretty big cock had him sprinting fast. The last thing he needed was to be busted right now. That would be embarrassing.

But just as Reaver was running down the last flight of stairs before their dungeon home, Reaver spotted a blond man quickly heading towards the invisible doorway as well. And it was none other than Silas.

And before Reaver could hide, Silas spotted him.

“Oh, he-hello,” Silas sputtered. He was in black wizard robes, this one with a hood that he’d most likely had drawn over his head when he was sneaking out. “What are you doing out?”

“I could ask the same,” Reaver said. “Meeting with the Dark Lord again?”

Silas stared at Reaver, his body temporarily becoming iced. “No,” Silas said, and he laughed awkwardly. “I was making mischief, much like you. How about we keep it at that?” Silas turned to the wall and said the password, and the door materialized in front of the both of them.

Reaver knew that was a lie, but going on his determination to not get involved in this bullshit, Reaver shrugged and walked into the common room. “Sounds good to me, Malfoy,” he said. “Hope you found whatever you were out searching for.”

Silas glanced over his shoulder as they walked up the stairs to the boys’ dorm. “Did you?” he asked. “Or were you just walking off all that sex?”

Reaver winked, but said nothing back.

“Really!” Killian hissed the next morning. “So, it’s true? Jade and Professor Dekker?”

Reaver nodded. It was lunch now, the two of them walking towards their next class. This was the first time they’d been alone since the morning. The moment they woke up it was off to breakfast, Sanguine and Draco chattering everyone’s ears off. Jade himself seemed to be in quite a good mood as well. The kid was glowing and bouncy, smiling even when there was nothing to smile about and just radiating whatever it is that Professor Dekker filled him with.

Besides cum anyway.

Then after breakfast it was Transfiguration with the Hufflepuffs, then Herbology. Reaver behaved himself as much as humanly possible, but it was difficult as fuck not to tell Killian what he’d heard. The news was eating him from the inside out, but the last thing he wanted was for a teacher or one of those ghosts to overhear him. He might pride himself on not caring about things, but Jade wasn’t a bad dude, and Reaver didn’t want to sell him out like some sort of snitch.

And now that they were finally alone, Killian’s hands were both cupping his mouth, his blue eyes alight. The kid was even bouncing up and down a bit in the hallway, several witches giving him funny looks before they continued off to their afternoon class.

“And it’s not just random fucking either,” Reaver said, dropping his voice. The class they had next was Study of Ancient Runes which sounded about as fun as a lobotomy. “Jade said he loved Dekker, and Dekker said it back.”

Killian’s wide eyes turned soft. “Aw!” he gushed, his tone similar to the one he used when he was seeing something fluffy and adorable. “They’re in love!? Professor Dekker just seemed so cold. That’s just so cute! I love it!”

Reaver just shook his head as his eyes rolled to the ceiling. “It’s weird,” he said. “And if they both get caught they’re going to get fired.”

If Jade snuck out that night, or the night after that, Reaver wouldn’t have been able to tell. Determined not to get involved in things, at least not purposely, Reaver let Jade and Silas have their secrets and instead spent time with Killian. The two of them explored the grounds, got their homework done, and mingled with the other Slytherins. Jade and Silas both seemed to be acting rather normal, or what was normal for them, and nothing seemed too out of place.

It was their next Defence Against the Dark Arts class that things began to get interesting. Reaver walked in to Professor Dekker sitting at his desk going over papers, a cup of steaming tea beside a white feather quill, and on the blackboard beside him were the words “Defence Against the Imperious Curse”. Reaver had forgotten Professor Dekker’s words after their first class. He’d gotten special permission to perform that forbidden curse, and also showed an interest in using Silas as a practice dummy again.

Silas scowled when he saw the blackboard, but sat down without comment. The rest of the Slytherins filed in and took their seats.

The bell rang and Professor Dekker rose from his desk. “The Imperious Curse is a unique curse,” Professor Dekker began, as he glanced at the blackboard, his white wand in-hand. “It has caused a lot of trouble for the Ministry, and a lot of trouble when the Dark Lord was active. As your previous professor taught you, and most of you know from basic history… a lot of wizard families who were aligned with the Dark Lord claimed to have been under the Imperious Curse. Some of them were believed, others were sent to Azkaban.” Professor Dekker then turned from the blackboard, and his eyes narrowed in on Silas.

“It is said that no one is able to fight off the Imperious Curse, and for the most part this is true. There is one type of wizard that can though, mostly because they themselves can perform a version of this mind-controlling curse.” Professor Dekker nodded towards Silas. “Come up to the front of the class, Mr. Malfoy.”

Silas nervously rose, but as he did, Draco put a hand on his shoulder. “My father–”

“I spoke to your father, Draco Malfoy,” Professor Dekker said curtly. “I spoke to Silas as well, and he has agreed to help educate the class. Haven’t you, Silas?”

Silas, his brows knitted, nodded stiffly. “Yeah,” he said. “Dad said that I can use my abilities on you back though.”

“Indeed, that was the deal,” Professor Dekker said, then he turned back to the class. “I’m going to attempt to perform the Imperious Curse on Silas, and afterwards, he’s going to show you just what an ignislumis can do. But first, a control subject.” Professor Dekker’s eyes swept the classroom, before focusing on Killian. “You’ll do.”

Reaver immediately didn’t like this, but Killian seemed excited. “Okay,” he said as he jumped to his feet. “As long as it’s not the Cruciatus Curse. Or the death one, of course.” Professor Dekker nodded his approval at Killian’s enthusiasm, but I wasn’t liking this one bit.

What was involved in this curse? Hopefully it didn’t mean that Killian was going to shout out something incriminating.

Killian walked to the front of the class, his black robes flowing behind him, and stood in front of the class beside Silas. Silas looked to be a perfect mixture of both anxious and angry. One moment it was one expression, the next, the other, almost like the dude was switching masks.

Professor Dekker raised his wand towards Killian and said under his breath “Imperio.”

Killian didn’t react or do anything. He stared at Professor Dekker as all the Slytherins leaned in, waiting to see what would happen. Would Killian dance? Do a flip? Recite his most embarrassing moment?

It turned out, Professor Dekker had a much darker trick in store for Killian. Professor Dekker lips moved and his wand did as well, and without a word, and very fluidly, Killian turned to Professor Dekker’s desk and grabbed a small knife.

Then Professor Dekker glanced over at Reaver. “Kill Reaver,” he commanded.

Reaver blinked. Killian, not a bit of hesitation on him, began walking towards Reaver with the small pen knife clutched in his hand.

There was no homicidal look to him either, no signs that he was under the control of magic. Killian’s body language was the same, his walk was the same, everything was Killian. All that was different was that he had every intention of murdering Reaver.

Killian approached, his eyes fixed, and Reaver just smiled at him. “Hi, hunny,” he said with pretend happiness. “I always knew you’d kill me one day. I didn’t think it would be so soon though. You’ve had enough of my shit already?”

Killian kept walking, buggy-eyed Slytherins watching in shock.

“Aren’t you going to stop him?” Silas said anxiously.

Killian was almost there, his knuckles white from gripping the knife so hard.

“Professor Dekker!” Silas cried. “This is… shit!” At the same time that Silas said this, Killian’s arm was raising in the air, the knife glinting in the torchlight around them. And as Reaver watched with an eyebrow raised, Killian’s arm swung down, aiming for Reaver’s chest.

Reaver raised his own arm to grab Killian’s wrist, but before he got a chance to, Killian froze on the spot.

Reaver glanced over Killian’s shoulder towards Professor Dekker. “Cutting it a bit close, eh?” he said.

But to his surprise, Professor Dekker’s wand was lowered… and Silas beside him had a tensed expression on his face, and his body was trembling.

Silas was the one that had stopped Killian?

Killian’s head then shook back and forth. “Shit.” Killian put a hand to his forehead as Reaver’s attention turned back to him. The Slytherins were all talking quickly amongst themselves, and Reaver heard Draco swearing. “That is one fucked up curse. I had no control over anything.” Killian looked at the knife in awe. “I could’ve really killed you. Holy shit.”

But behind Killian, Reaver noticed an odd exchange happening. Professor Dekker was rigid and he looked incredibly pissed off, more than usual. He was staring off with his purple eyes piercing, and both of his fists were clenched.

“Silas…” Reaver nodded towards the blond Slytherin, now standing several paces further away from Professor Dekker. “Did you stop the curse?”

Sanguine gave out an impressed whistle. “That was your plan, Professor Dekker?” he said with amusement. “Stress Silas out enough for him to stop Killian? Indeed, that wasn’t you at all. Your wand was lowered and your lips didn’t move. Wow, Silas. You’re incredible!”

Silas, looking timid, smiled. “Thanks,” he said. “I… didn’t want to risk Killian hurting Reaver.”

Killian didn’t look too pleased at that comment. He flashed Silas a look before sitting back down at their desk. Reaver noticed that Jade also wasn’t looking too happy. He seemed to know that something was off with Professor Dekker.

Professor Dekker, however, snapped himself quickly out of it. “As demonstrated, ignislumis can not only break themselves out of the Imperious Curse, but also break others out if they’re experienced enough.” Professor Dekker motioned to where Silas was sitting. “You’ve demonstrated enough, Malfoy. Sit down.”

“We aren’t going to see him in action?” Sanguine complained. “You said you were going to curse him too. We want to see him snap himself out of it.”

“You’ve already seen it,” Professor Dekker said, his tone as tight as his movements. Yeah, there was definitely something different with him now. It didn’t take a genius to piece together that things had gone wrong during that lesson.

But what though?

Professor Dekker continued with the class, not calling Silas up again. He did however demonstrate the Imperious Curse on several more students, including Draco who he made twirl around like a ballerina, to everyone’s amusement and Draco’s rage. Professor Dekker gave them all tips on how to break the curse, though no one he performed it on was able to do so – Sanguine seemed close though.

Once the bell rang and the students rose to their feet, Professor Dekker spoke, “Silas Malfoy, stay behind.”

Reaver suspected that. So, instead of leaving, Reaver and Killian both stuck by the door out of sight, and not surprisingly, Draco and Jade did as well.

They all did the Audacio spell on their right ear, a spell that would help them hear better, and leaned in to catch what Professor Dekker was going to speak to Silas about.

As soon as the spell was activated on their ears, everyone could hear Professor Dekker’s snarling voice. “You wanted to be a fucking hero, did you?” he said angrily. “Impress Reaver?”

“No,” Silas said defensively. “It just happened.”

“Like shit it did, Malfoy.” The sounds of a hand or fist slamming against a desk was heard, loud enough to make everyone wince. “You have some fucking audacity freezing me like that. I should Imperio you right off of the god damn tower, you insufferable, mutant brat.”

“I am not!” Silas angrily said back. “I will go to my father about this. You can’t talk to me like this, asshole.”

“I will do more than that!” Professor Dekker snarled. “You sure are brave for someone who has more to hide than a boggart. Draco Malfoy’s twin? Who are you fooling, boy? And don’t think I haven’t seen you sneaking about the corridors. Where are you off to?”

“Shut up!” Silas suddenly screamed. “Shut the fuck up!”

There was an electrical snap, followed by Professor Dekker letting out a gasping cry. Professor Dekker swore, and Draco’s mouth dropped when he heard Professor Dekker yell Expulso. After that there was a scream from Silas and a heavy impact.

Draco had had enough. The Slytherin with brushed back blond hair charged through the door with his wand out and his light green eyes blazing, Jade behind him trying to grab the kid and yank him back. Jade was shit out of luck though, Draco literally dragged him into the class room with his own strength, and boy did he look murderous.

Reaver followed, Killian swearing and frantic. They walked in to see Silas on the ground, completely dazed and out of it. He was writhing and moaning, his robes smoking, and Professor Dekker was standing over him with his lips pulled back and his teeth locked.

“What the fuck!” Killian yelled. “You’re a fucking teacher! What are you doing?”

“Get the hell out of here!” Professor Dekker snapped. “This is none of your buisness.”

“Like hell it is!” Killian said, rage making him look a thousand feet tall. Reaver was impressed. “Leave him alone! Stop fucking bullying him.”

Professor Dekker’s eyes narrowed, the tip of his wand flaring though no words had been spoken aloud. “You have no idea who he is… what he is,” Professor Dekker growled. “He’s been sneaking out. Not just around the school but into the Forbidden Forest. What are you doing in there, Silas?”

Reaver couldn’t hold back the snort of amusement. “You’re one to talk,” he said through a chuckle. “For someone currently sneaking around at night to fuck a fifth year, you sure do love tossing around accusations.”

Professor Dekker’s face dropped, and his already milky-white face paled further to a more ashen colour. And to Reaver’s left, Jade’s expression also was stricken, his accented with a mouth that gaped open in shock.

Then Professor Dekker grabbed his wand, and just as Killian pushed Reaver out of the way, Professor Dekker shouted, “Obliviate!”

A shot of magic burst past Reaver as he stumbled into the corridor and made impact with the wall behind them. Killian, fuming with anger, drew his wand and ran towards the open door.

But Draco was there pulling Silas out of the classroom. “We’re leaving,” he said quickly. “That fucking teacher is mad. I’m sending an owl to Father.” Silas was literally being pulled behind his brother, the kid barely able to keep himself upright.

“Let’s go,” Killian agreed with a nod of his head, and he started pulling Reaver too. “Professor Dekker is about three seconds from erasing all of our minds.”

Reaver’s face twisted. “I’m not scared of that fuckhead,” he said. “I’ll fucking waste that asshole. He can try me.”

“Not now,” Killian hissed. “Right now we have to get out of here.”

“Why!” Reaver said with annoyance. They were almost at the end of the corridor now, several students appearing to give them bewildered looks.

Wait, those weren’t just students.

It was Potter and his two pals.

“What’s going on over here?” Potter said, before glancing behind Reaver and Killian to see Professor Dekker and Jade standing side by side glaring. It looked like they wanted to Avada Kedavra their asses, then use the resurrection stone to bring them back to life, only to kill them again.

Maybe rape their corpses a bit… Really, the glare was so threatening Reaver found himself mildly curious about what those two were going to do now that there were witnesses.

“None of your fucking buisness,” Draco snapped. “Get out of the way.”

Harry Potter stayed where he was. “He’s not the only one who knows you’ve been sneaking out, Silas Malfoy,” he said. Did Potter hear the other shit too? “You’ve been doing it since you arrived last year. I’ve been watching you. I know what you’re doing and what you are.”

Silas paled, before pushing past Harry and his friends. He stormed off, upset enough for a crackle of lightning to shoot across his clenched fists. Draco followed him, and because Reaver was still rather determined not to get involved in shit, he trailed behind.

But even though he was super super sure he didn’t want to get involved in anything, Reaver couldn’t help but fantasize about how this was all going to go down. Professor Dekker was on his shit list now for the way he acted, and of course they were on Professor Dekker’s shit list as well. Damn, Reaver hadn’t even been at this school for long and already stuff was going down. It was a bit of a pain in the ass, but also really really funny and kind of interesting.

And, well, Reaver felt a bit proud of himself for defending Silas too. Sneaky little shit or not bullying him like that was a dick move. Silas seemed like a good kid, and if Reaver had to protect him a bit from the big bad teacher then he would.

Though now that Professor Dekker knew that they knew about his Jade habit… perhaps they were all at risk.

Maybe… Reaver needed to strike first.

“No.”

Reaver broke out of his day dream, a really nice one that involved Professor Dekker being force-fed truth serum in front of the entire school in the Great Hall. He was telling everyone how he was rutting Jade every night, and had even gone into great detail. Reaver was watching with eager giddiness, and had even started trying to figure out where he could get some truth serum.

“No, what?” Reaver said. His boyfriend was sitting beside him in the common room. Silas, Draco, and Jade were nowhere to be seen. Sanguine too, but most likely he was with his brother.

Would Jade even show his face here? Probably to yell and spaz out at them most likely.

“No to whatever you’re planning,” Killian said. “You’re going to get expelled, Reaver! This is our literal first week in Hogwarts and already you’re gearing us up to get kicked out.”

Reaver rolled his eyes. “I thought you’d be happy I was defending our new weird friend.”

Killian blew a bit of air out of his nose. “It really didn’t have to be Silas, did it?” he muttered, then added: “Did you really have to tell Professor Dekker that you knew? How are we even going to face him now? He was a pretty good teacher, he just… thinks Silas is hiding something.”

Killian’s next pause had him looking at the fireplace with a contemplative look. “He is hiding something though,” he concluded grimly. “Sneaking off to the Forbidden Forest? Not to mention, he’s right… everyone says Draco never mentioned having a brother. Silas just kind of appeared last year.”

“Not our problem,” Reaver said raising both hands in front of him. “You can’t just whine at me to stay out of trouble, then bring trouble to my feet asking me to figure it out with you.”

Killian really didn’t like Reaver saying that. “I’m trying not to get you expelled, asshole,” he said. “The Silas thing… it might have to do with You-Know-Who. We won’t get expelled for that.”

“So, you’re picking and choosing our trouble, eh? Crafty.”

Killian still didn’t look impressed, so Reaver decided to make it worse by winking coyly. This made Killian laugh, and he leaned into Reaver and rested his head on Reaver’s shoulder. They both shared a kiss after that, but when coming in for a second one, Killian yawned.

Reaver stuck his finger into Killian’s mouth as he did, making Killian’s sleepy eyes fly open in confusion when his teeth met Reaver’s finger.

Killian clamped down on Reaver’s finger. Reaver snorted and pulled it away, Killian letting out a playful growl followed by a mock snap.

“Let’s go to bed, dummy,” Reaver said, rubbing his sore finger. “Maybe if you’re not too tired we can fall asleep the right way.” Reaver winked again, but Killian’s shy smile turned to a frown, his eyes now looking past Reaver.

Reaver turned and saw Silas and Draco both quickly walking into the Common Room. They both looked angry and stressed out, and their robes were all messed up.

“You two okay?” Killian asked.

“Not really,” Draco replied. “But things should be better tomorrow. We… we’re not in the mood for talking. Reaver, we appreciate you bringing to light Professor Dekker’s indiscretions. Hopefully he will be removed soon. I’m sending an owl in the morning.”

“We didn’t ask to talk,” Reaver said. “We’re putting up a muffling charm and getting rid of some tension.”

Silas’s lips pursed at this. “Wish I had something like that,” he muttered. “I could use it.” Draco then dragged Silas up the stairs, Reaver and Killian following behind.

The sex was great, which wasn’t anything new, really. It was a highlight to what had been a frustrating day to say the least. Why did it always seem that when you’re at school the least important thing seems to be the school work?

Reaver fell asleep after their pre-bed tryst, Killian passing out almost as soon as he’d rolled off of Reaver. But, like what had been happening a lot lately, Reaver found himself waking up.

He wasn’t waking up to someone trying to steal a potion though, this time Reaver had no idea what had woken him up.

That being said, Reaver had always had a sixth sense about things like that. When Reaver woke up, he woke up for a reason. So, Reaver stayed absolutely still and listened.

“Follow me.”

Reaver’s eyes widened. That was Professor Dekker’s voice.

“What are you doing here?” Jade hissed, a lot of fear in his voice. “This is dangerous!”

“We’re leaving,” Professor Dekker said, and even in a quiet tone Reaver could hear the coldness in his voice. “I’m going to get sacked the moment that owl reaches Lucius Malfoy, and I’m sure you don’t want to remain here after word gets out.” Reaver could hear rustling around now, packing probably.

“Where… where am I going to go? I can’t go home…” Jade said anxiously. “You know what it’s like at home.”

There was silence, Reaver then peeked through the curtains and saw Professor Dekker looking down at a frightened Jade. “Where will you go? With me. What, you think I’d just drop you off somewhere and leave you?”

Jade’s yellow eyes rose, and they filled with love. Reaver shook his head as Jade threw his arms around Professor Dekker. What a weird couple. “I love you,” Jade whispered. “I’m sorry I wasn’t more careful. I really…” Jade’s eyes suddenly focused on Reaver, then they became angry little slits.

Jade pulled away from Professor Dekker, and with his teeth clenched in anger, he grabbed his wand from his night table.

Reaver dove for his too, just as Jade shouted a spell that Reaver couldn’t make out, but most likely would result in either his death, or something that would have Reaver wishing for death.

The spell flew past Reaver’s outstretched arm and blasted the brick wall behind him. Unlike Professor Dekker’s spell earlier, this one exploded the brick, sending a burst of crushed rock towards Reaver, the force of it throwing him backwards and in to another student’s bed.

This, obviously, had the entire dorm room waking up. As Reaver struggled to his feet, Professor Dekker spat some words as he slashed his wand like it was a sword. Every student, Sanguine included, became glued to their bed, and the askew curtains all closed around them like they’d become iron.

“I thought you were my friend, asshole!” Jade screamed at Reaver. “You’ve just ruined our fucking lives. I hope you’re proud of yourself.”

Reaver got to his feet and dusted himself off. “Maybe if Professor D got off of Silas’s ass it wouldn’t have happened,” he said lowly. “Dekker is the one banging a fifth year, don’t shape me out to be the bad…” Reaver turned around at the mention of Silas, and realized he’d fallen back into Silas’s bed. “Huh, he’s gone again.”

Professor Dekker turned and flicked his wand towards Draco’s bed. The iron curtain vanished, leaving a second empty bed.

“They’re both gone,” Professor Dekker growled. “Perhaps I can fix this in time.” Professor Dekker then stalked towards the stairs leading down to the Common Room, Killian now up and hovering over Reaver to make sure he was okay.

Jade watched Professor Dekker go, looking scared. “He’s going after Draco and Silas?”

“Is he going to hurt them?” Killian said with alarm, and before anyone could answer his question, he was grabbing their robes and shoes.

And as Reaver put on his clothes he sighed bitterly. He really didn’t want to get involved in this shit. Why the hell was he always getting involved in this shit!?

Reaver’s mind tried to give him a few answers to this question, all of which alluded to this being his fault and that he brought this on himself… but Reaver ignored them all and started walking with the others down the stairs.

They entered the dark hallway, the door to Slytherin’s room vanishing the moment the last person exited. With Professor Dekker leading the way, they made their way towards the nearest exit that would bring them in front of the Forbidden Forest.

It was quiet while they walked, and the darkness had Professor Dekker and Jade both bringing out their wand and lumos’ing at it. A bright light then lit their way, and they continued through the quiet school.

The only thing they encountered before they were outside in the cold September night, was the ghost called the Bloody Baron. But since Professor Dekker was a teacher, the Baron only nodded his approval – most likely thinking they were going out for some late night detention – and floated on, probably off to go terrorize something.

“The forest is huge,” Jade said quietly. “Where could they even be?”

Professor Dekker looked around. “There are several paths into the forest, but I have an easier way to find him.” Professor Dekker raised his wand and said something along the lines of fulgur quarry or something similar, then lowered his wand and pointed it at the ground.

To everyone’s surprise, a bright blue stain could now be seen painted on the blades of grass. The stain trailed off before vanishing, but as Professor Dekker followed it, the stain continued to show once several feet from the professor’s wand.

“How did you do that?” Killian asked, sounding impressed.

“Silas emits an energy field at all times,” Professor Dekker explained. “It’s an ignislumis thing.” Reaver looked behind him as Professor Dekker said this, and saw that indeed there was a trail of blue behind them too, one that went towards the door they’d just left.

“You seem to know a whole lot about those guys,” Reaver said. “And you seem to have a grudge against them too.”

Professor Dekker said nothing to this, he only kept walking, and Reaver, Killian, and Jade followed quickly behind. The glowing path led them in to the forest, a spooky dark forest that looked about as inviting as Dementor wedding.

“Wands out,” Professor Dekker said quietly.

“What… what are you planning on doing when you find them?” Jade asked meekly.

“Whatever it takes to stop them from sending that owl,” Professor Dekker replied.

Jade looked at him with worry. “Are you going to kill my friends?”

“If they don’t want to let me obliviate their memories, they will be technically killing themselves.”

Jade scowled at this. “They’re my friends though.”

Professor Dekker continued to glare at the ground as they started walking through the twisted and deformed woods. “If it means that much to you…” Professor Dekker’s head then shot up, and immediately, the glow on his wand, and the blue stain it had been illuminating disappeared.

Following suit, Jade extinguished the light on his, and all around them was dark.

And in that silence, they all heard voices.

Not just voices, Reaver looked towards the voices and saw a glow of pale light, and a shadow moving. They were in what seemed to be a clearing, and it was more than just two people.

One of those people sounded like Silas, the other had a weird higher pitch voice.

Professor Dekker took several more steps forward, before he stopped. “We’re turning–”

“Expelliarmus!”

There was a flash of light, and Reaver was tossed off of his feet, his wand flying out of his hand. As he met with the ground, Killian oofing right beside him, there was a shrill laugh of a woman.

“It looks like we have ourselves some spies,” the woman said.

Reaver rolled onto his back, his body pulsing with pain, and saw some witch chick with wild black hair and an insane glint in her eye. She had all of their wands in her hand, and was wagging the wands at them like she was tempting a dog with a stick.

“We’re here for the Malfoy boys,” Professor Dekker growled, the side of his face bleeding and covered in dirt. He was trying to get up, Jade beside him doing the same. “That’s all.”

“Hah,” the woman said. Reaver nudged Killian who looked rather alert, and he nodded discreetly that he was okay. “We’ll see what the Dark Lord has to say about that.” She pointed her wand at them. “All of you start walking.”

Professor Dekker’s teeth locked, and like Reaver was standing in front of Killian to guard him, Professor Dekker was doing the same to Jade. “I knew it,” Professor Dekker said. “That boy was up to something.” Professor Dekker then jumped back when the woman shouted some sort of spell, shooting a ball of blue light towards them. It made the ground explode, missing Professor Dekker and Jade by inches. “I said walk!” the woman barked.

“This is why we don’t get involved,” Reaver muttered. They all started walking towards the clearing. “This is exactly why.”

“We aren’t really involved,” Killian hissed back. “Just tell them we’re not a part of this.”

Reaver gave Killian a flat look. “Just tell the psycho dark wizards we were just on an evening walk? Sure, go ahead. You do it, Killian.”

Killian looked to be gearing to say something sarcastic back, but the grey glow on his face had his gaze turning back to the clearing. Reaver did the same, and saw two familiar wizards, and one that… was not human at all.

He was a tall grey snaky thing, with slits for eyes, no nose at all, and a mouth that looked to permanently be in a frown.

Ah, so that was Voldemort, eh? Neat.

Then, Voldemort spoke.

And that high-pitched squeaky voice, had been coming from him all along.

“Indeed…” Voldemort began, “it looks like my…”

Reaver suddenly burst out laughing. Voldemort stopped talking and glared down at him.

“Sorry…” Reaver said, waving his hands. “I was just thinking of something funny a house elf said earlier. Go on.”

Voldemort’s narrow snaky eyes narrowed further, before he continued. “You have made a grave mistake in following my youngest Death Eater,” Voldemort said. “A mistake that is going to cost you.”

“Death Eater?” Professor Dekker growled. “I knew it.” Silas slunk down as Professor Dekker glared at him. “I knew you were a snake from the start, Malfoy. Both of you.”

“I… I didn’t have a choice,” Silas said defensively. “He… needed my abilities.”

“Indeed,” Elish said lowly. “I suppose what you can do would be useful to him, wouldn’t it, snake?”

Draco then stood defiantly in front of Silas. “You are still talking to him like that with all these wands pointed at you?” he said angrily, as he walked up to Professor Dekker, Silas following. “You must have a death wish, Dekker. It looks like the position of Defence Against the Dark Arts is going to have an opening really soon.”

Professor Dekker smirked, the two Malfoy boys now right in front of him. “Really?” he said with a chuckle. “Well, I might as well take both of you with me then.”

And with that, Professor Dekker lunged at Draco and Silas. He reached out with both of his hands, and the moment each hand touched Draco and Silas, a sudden flash of electricity lit up the grey-lit darkness around them, sending an electrical snap that reverberated through the forest.

Draco and Silas were sent flying, their wands both dropped, and as they flew past Voldemort, both crashing into bushes and small trees, the Dark Lord hissed with anger. “Get him, Bellatrix!” he hissed.

Taking advantage of the distraction, Reaver grabbed Silas’s wand, and Killian grabbed Draco’s. “Transmogrificatus!” Reaver yelled, pointing his wand at the Bellatrix chick. A burst of dark red energy shot at her, hitting her in the face.

Bellatrix was thrown backwards, and she began screaming and writhing on the floor. Reaver watched her with glee, entranced by the shrieks of pain, and because of that… he didn’t see Killian facing Lord Voldemort until it was too late.

“Crucio!” Killian screamed. Reaver whirled around, just in time to see Voldemort blocking the curse with a sweep of his wand.

Voldemort smiled a lipless smile, then raised his wand as Reaver went running towards Killian.

“Avada Kedavra!”

“No!” Reaver screamed. He jumped towards Killian as the flash of green light hit his boyfriend. Killian was knocked backwards, but as he stumbled, the green light bounced off of him, shooting towards places unknown.

Killian landed on the ground hard. “Killian!” Reaver yelled, panic making his hands tremble. He kneeled down beside his boyfriend. “Killi?” His shaking hands hovered over Killian’s smouldering chest, the robes ripped away to show a lightning bolt right in the middle of it.

Then Killian’s eyes moved. “Reav?” he said. Killian sat up and looked down at himself. “The curse bounced off of me? I’m alive?”

“You… you are,” Reaver said, in awe of what he was seeing. “I didn’t think I loved you that much.”

Killian scowled. “Why do you have to ruin every nice moment?”

Then, to their left, in the direction the green flash of light had shot off in, there was a gasp from Silas. “Holy shit…” Silas said. “Um, you guys… might want to see this.”

Reaver helped Killian up, before sharply turning around to see what Voldemort was doing. He was standing there, looking in Silas’s direction, a passed-out Bellatrix behind him.

Voldemort made no move to kill any of them, he was walking towards Silas with a curious look on his face, his wand down.

And as Reaver and Killian approached, they saw… Harry Potter’s head, neck, and a bit of his shoulder. He wasn’t moving, and was kind of smoking a little bit.

Silas leaned down and grabbed something invisible, the slid it off, revealing the rest of Harry Potter.

And boy, was he dead. There was another lightning bolt on his neck, sizzling away… the killing curse that had bounced off of Killian had hit him.

Voldemort blinked. “That solves a lot of my problems,” he said simply.

Reaver snorted back a laugh. “You’re welcome, Dark Lord,” he said, before reaching out and snatching the invincibility cloak from Silas. “I’m keeping this as a thanks for making your life a lot easier.” Reaver folded up the cloak, and turned to walk back out of the forest.

He passed Professor Dekker, just standing there. “I’m to assume in exchange for keeping this quiet, you’ll keep my and Jade’s secret?” Professor Dekker said to Silas, Draco now slowly getting up behind him.

“Sure,” Silas said. “But… we have to get rid of this body. He has friends that like him a lot and they’re going to come looking for him.”

“Can’t like him too much if the curse killed him.” Reaver said with a shrug. “You guys clean up the dirty work. We’re going back to Hogwarts.”

“You need to stay here and helps us sort this out,” Silas said angrily.

Reaver raised a hand and waved it. “I said I wasn’t getting involved.”

“You literally just had a hand in killing The Boy Who Lived. You’re very involved!”

“I can’t hear you,” Reaver called. Killian giving the remaining wizards perplexed looks before following behind Reaver. “See you at school tomorrow!”

Killian caught up to Reaver, looking down at the new scar on his chest. “Did we really just help the Dark Lord kill Harry Potter?”

“I guesso.”

“We haven’t even been here for an entire week!” Killian put his hands to his face and slid them down.

“So what?” We didn’t get expelled, right? I see this as a win,” Reaver said, continuing down the dark path. “We’re off to a good start.”

“Reaver!”

“Yep, it’s going to be a wonderful school year.”

THE END