20 20 - Flying, Marauders Map and Christmas.
I was sitting on my Cleansweep 7 and scouting the area in front of me. Madam Hooch has instructed us ealier in the year on the manoeuvres we're expected to do to pass this year's flying class. Most people taking the class are really interested in Quidditch but i'm one of the few just in it for the thrill of flying.
I'm already able to do this years flying manoeuvres and the next years but I've memorized the moves I saw of a fifth year doing in their training as I ran around The Black Lake and i'm now trying them for myself.
Quickly pushing my broom as fast as it would go, I flew through the obstacles, doing the double barrel-roll, then quickly flew up as high as I could go before running out of breath, the fifth year didn't go nearly as high but I wanted to so why not.
I let myself free fall and then sped towards the ground at a ridiculous speed and when there was a few metres until i hit the ground, I tugged the broom upward with all my strength and started flying parallel to the ground with only a few inches to spare.
After 5 minutes of dangerous tricks and manoeuvres which only 60% of them were done by the fifth year I saw, I finally made my way to the ground and hopped off my broom.
The Ravenclaw Quidditch captain apparently saw my performance halfway through and immediately confronted me on joining the quidditch team. It took me over 10 long minutes before I finally convinced him that I wasn't interested.. of course, that was only the first refusal.. I was confronted multiple times by multiple different people over multiple days on joining.. it got annoying, real quick, but i'm a very stubborn person and stayed true on my choice of not playing in the quidditch team.
..
In a few weeks it will be Christmas and at the moment, I am on a mission that I should have probably done earlier, I'm gonna get the marauder's map, study it, and copy it.
Casting 17 spells on myself which included removing my scent, sound and body from being revealed with multiple obscure spells for each one considering people like Albus Dumbledore almost definitely have a way to see through any common invisibility method, I made way through the castle and towards Filch's Office and made sure not to bump into any student when turning around a corner.
Standing in front of Filch's Office, I cast a spell that I found in a book from the ROR that makes a wall invisible on one side while keeping it normal on the other.
Just to make sure, I cast a notice-me-not charm around the area so that no unsuspecting student saw a transparent door.
Casting the spell which was a unique mix of Transfiguration and Charmwork, wandlessly of course, I peered inside and unfortunately for me, saw Filch hunched over his desk muttering about something, most likely about students messing things up.
Quickly formulating a plan, I walked away and when I thought I was at a sufficient distance, tried out a spell that I learned.
This spell didn't have an incantation and I just had to visualise my magic doing the correct things.
"Thunder" I whispered and with that a huge bang sounded out as the floor rumbled for a second.
'Ow, louder than I expected, but it worked' I thought as I rubbed my ears.
Quickly making my way back towards Filch's Office, I saw him running towards where i cast the spell along the way.
Smirking, I ran silently towards his office and quickly made my way inside, making sure the notice-me-not charm was still there, I started casting spells
Closing the door, I heard a Loud and Rough 'Meow!'
Turning towards where the sound came from I saw Filch's annoying cat, quickly casting a body binding spell, I floated the now frozen cat, launched it outside where it landed with a dull thud and then silenced it.
'Bloody cat has a supernatural sense for sensing people, even with my stealthing abilities it still meowed every time I saw it along the way to the ROR.'
Quickly scouring the whole office, I undid a locking spell on one of the drawers "I thought Filch was a squib, how is his drawer locked with a spell? Meh, let's not get distracted, I need the map'
Luckily, I found the piece of parchment in the very drawer that I unlocked, which was some pretty good luck in this cluttered office.
Making sure that it was the real thing, I put my finger on the paper and said "I solemnly swear that i'm up to no good" in a quiet voice.
The blank piece of parchment suddenly had a map come into existence along with footsteps that were all labelled with names.
I couldn't keep the smile off my face, this was some impressive stuff from some students at Hogwarts, it was really satisfying to look at.
Skimming the map, I looked for Filch and saw the name Argus Filch making its way in my direction.
Quickly making my way out of the office, still in 'Stealth Mode' as I like to call it, I spotted Filch storming his way towards the office sporting a bright pink afro, a swollen red nose, a clown suit and boils all over his face. Behind him were 2 ginger twins laughing and pointing at him.
Smirking to myself, I removed the charms to his office before he got too close and realised something was up.
Filch suddenly saw the stiff Mrs Norris and quickly rushed over, screaming, and started pumping the cats chest in what I can only call a poor representation of CPR.
At that point I decided that it was time for me to leave and made my way back towards the ROR.
'Mission Success.'
..
It's now Christmas Day.
I also decided that I'd relax on Christmas this year as well.
I've been practicing all year, everyday, and for now, I just want to lie down on this ridiculously comfy chair in a forest with a waterfall roaring in the distance with some 'Tainted Love' playing in the background and Archie lying on my lap and Corvie on my shoulder instead of her usual habit of flying around the forbidden forest.
'Ah the ROR sure is great, isn't it?'
I was reading a book about The Tales of Merlin, of course it was completely fictional but it was very entertaining.
After finishing the book and cocktail that I had the Hogwarts house elves make me, I thought back to the gifts me and my friends exchanged..
..
I walked downstairs at 6am and found a bunch of presents sent for me, bringing them to my room, I dug in. The first present that I opened was from Ryan and unsuprisingly, it was a quidditch book along with a new broom cleaning kit.
'Man, he's really interested in Quidditch these days, I saw him and Oliver Wood arguing over some quidditch team and all I know is that when I came back an hour and a half later they were still arguing. As for what I sent him, it was a Cleansweep 7 because I noticed he's still using a Comet 260.. The price was a lot lower than when I bought my own as it's no longer on top of the market, but it was still a top of the line broom and expensive. A lot of people would say it's a complete waste of money, but the way I see it, I've already got a lot of money and have plenty of ways to make a lot more so why not spend some on Christmas?
As for Kevin, he got me an expensive blue Kneazle collar with 'Archie' engraved in golden letters.. Archie.. was not happy, but it would be rude not to use a Christmas present, right?
Well, Archie is now sporting a stylish new collar and that's all that matters, as for what I got him, it was an unpublished charms book written by a renowned Charms Specialist who died before he could publish it. I could probably make a small fortune selling it but I don't really care. Sigh, sometimes i'm just too kind.
I honestly didn't know what to get him other than something related to Charms so I made it good.
As for Penelope, she got me a large book on Historical Landmarks and where to find them.
'Ah, Kevin was really interested in History too! I should've gotten something to do with that.. oh well, no point crying about it, my gift was good too.'
What did I get for her? An invisibility cloak that I found in the ROR room of lost things. Now.. why did I get her that? You may ask, well.. I thought she could sneak out after curfew or something, I don't know.. yea I really suck with gift giving..
Now, onto Myra.
Me and Myra haven't really talked other than sitting next to each other in classes but compared to all the other students, I'm definitely closer with her than them but not really close friends, so i'm pretty sure we give each other gifts as more of a formality at this point but, I digress.
She got me some expensive sweets.. again, they were from France this time which she apparently went to. As for what I got her, it was a potions book that I found in Knockturn Alley that I didn't really need anymore because I noticed she enjoyed potions the most.
'Man, I really splurge on my friends, what can I say? I'm just too kind, all hail Saint Leo-.... Anyway, I also sent a gift to the matron of the orphanage Miss Laurel, it was a rare tea set that I thought she'd like. I sent it through muggle post along with a note from who it's from to avoid suspicion if it suddenly appeared in her office. As for why I got it for her? Well, she's always been kind to me, and when I was exploring The Room of Lost Things, I spotted it and thought 'why not?'
Overall, I'd say that it's been quite a nice and relaxing Christmas.
