[1989 Pt.9]

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[Room of Requirements, Hogwarts Castle.]

A few days had passed since Nathan first pitched the idea of obtaining assignments from students in the year above to Tonks and Hestia.

His plan, which involved acquiring notes and assignments from older students, had proven highly effective in reducing his workload and establishing a connection with someone he had been eager to engage with since his arrival at Hogwarts.

Cedric Diggory, friendly twelve-year-old that he was, had kindly agreed to send him his previous year's school assignments and notes. Not only that, but Cedric also provided a list of reference materials to aid in Nathan's 'learning'.

The young boy was undeniably amiable and a potential talent that Nathan would love to call an ally in the future.

After a few days of settling into a comfortable routine, Nathan finally decided it was time to pay a visit to the Room of Requirement. Guided by the Point Me spell aimed at finding the portrait of Barnabus the Barmy and the Maurauder's map, he paced around the room three times, all the while contemplating his desire for a place where he could access study material from the Hogwarts Library and a station that could be used while enchanting and engraving runes.

An ancient-looking stone door materialized into the wall of the seventh-floor corridor once Nathan finished his third pass.

Nathan walked forward and let his magic push the door open wandlessly. It took some effort on Nathan's part to do it wandlessly but he believed that being able to enact telekinesis even in a very raw state was a power that could be successfully applied in a duel and in combat especially in disengaging from a duel.

The door opened and Nathan walked into the Room of Requirement. The room had many books lined up in several bookshelves and there was a large table which had several runes engraved upon it. Nathan supposed that to be the solution the room offered for a station that could be used for enchanting and engraving runes.

Nathan while intrigued by his soon-to-be workstation still focused on something which he wanted confirmed.

His wand in hand, Nathan muttered, "Accio Test parchment roll Z."

Despite the use of summoning charm, nothing in the ROR moved confirming a question Nathan always suspected in his head.

"So the room can't actually get things from the library huh?" The room of requirement was not accessing the Hogwarts library for its books, so where was it getting its books from?

This revelation brought a sense of relief. While he might not have access to the entirety of the Hogwarts Library, he could still procure a substantial portion of its more mainstream materials, thanks to the generous contributions of students and house elves who had abandoned or hidden items in the Room of Lost Things.

Furthermore, Nathan's satisfaction extended beyond the mere convenience of accessing these resources. He realized that this hidden cache likely held books on subjects that students preferred to keep out of the prying eyes of their peers, including volumes concerning the Dark Arts, a topic that was often shunned but had its place in his quest for knowledge.

It was a lucky break that he was satisfied with and while Nathan wanted to begin his exploration into the darker aspects of magic, he decided to begin something he had wanted to finish for a long time.

Nathan turned toward his trusty rucksack, reaching inside to retrieve a nondescript package securely wrapped in brown tape. With swift determination, he tore the retrieved package open, revealing a vibrant red flare gun nestled alongside a dozen pieces of 12-gauge ammunition.

Nathan had initially contemplated acquiring a traditional firearm, but after carefully considering both wizarding and Muggle laws, he decided to go for a flare gun. While it occupied a legal grey area, it wasn't strictly illegal. Acquiring it had necessitated the liberal use of the Confundus Charm to persuade a suspicious store owner to sell a flare gun to a ten-year-old, but Nathan considered it magic well spent.

As he held one of the dozen 12-gauge ammunition cartridges he had purchased, the bright red casing appeared similar to a standard shotgun bullet. However, Nathan knew that there were no metallic projectiles inside the cartridge capable of penetrating human skin even at a distance of five meters. He was perfectly content with this, as he wasn't planning for a mere crime with his modifications to the flare gun and its ammunition; he was aiming for a war crime. Nathan intended to enchant the flare gun to create a flare that would incinerate anything it struck after being fired.

Now most wizards could deal with flames generated by the basic Incendio charm with the use of a water charm, a flame-freezing charm or by simply vanishing the flame like any other mundane fire. But Nathan was planning to enhance the effect of the flames with the use of engraving runes on the cartridges and some other enchantments to turn the flare gun into an armament that would make even the most competent death eater take a step back though Nathan was also sure that the gun would be nothing more than an annoyance to summon on the level of Voldemort.

It would take some time but he already had the whole flare envisioned within his mind.

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[8th September, 1989.]

[Great Hall, Hogwarts]

Nathan sat down on the Hufflepuff table even as he finished giving Tsar a  roasted chicken leg. The raven started nibbling on the chicken leg as he sat in front of Nathan waiting for the go-ahead to leave towards one of the cliffs of the Black Lake close to the place Nathan has chosen for his future base within Hogwarts.

As Nathan was about to open the latest letter he had received from his family, he was nudged by Jacob who nodded towards the Gryffindor table at Nathan's back.

Nathan turned and found himself faced with a brown-haired girl who was looking at Tsar with a grim expression. Nathan was a bit shocked as he looked at the girl's iris which looked like it was made of actual amethyst jewels. The beautiful eyes along with alabaster skin and brown hair made her look very beautiful.

Nathan shook his head to clear his head of such a thought, he could not look at children like that.

He was about to ask her why she was looking at his messenger raven with such a grim expression but she spoke before him, "A raven is a symbol of impending war and death."

Nathan frowned before saying, "I know?" He was perfectly aware that many cultures held ravens in a negative light due to their tendency to follow armies for an easy meal.

The girl gave him a withering glare before asking, "And you still keep it close to you?"

Tsar supposedly offended by the statement gave an offended caw before he flew to sit on Nathan's shoulder giving an angry croak again after his landing.

Nathan gave the bird an amused look before he spoke again, "Yes I do. He is very intelligent and if he is a symbol of war, isn't it better that I know of it than be unaware of its existence? And Is Tsar's presence going to be a problem for you, Miss.....?"

"Bishop. And it won't be a problem for me. Your raven is a symptom, not the disease and nor its cause," Bishop said in a resigned tone before she mumbled the final words in a quieter voice, "Interesting times lie ahead."

Nathan was about to talk to her more, but Bishop turned around before walking away towards the Gryffindor table.

"Well, that was interesting," It was Alan who broke the silence that had descended among the four dormmates

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[A/N:

Bishop is someone who is learning divination and when she saw Tsar, she believed it to be a symbol of war and death.

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